Oscar winner Martin McDonagh says theaters rejected his plays, calling them “a dangerous place for writers”.

Irish Academy Award winner Martin McDonagh complained about theaters refusing to perform his work because he would not agree to language changes.

The playwright-turned-director told the BBC Today News broadcast that while they are an established writer who sells tickets, they wanted to make a few words more palatable to them or to what they think their audiences.

He called it a “huge problem” and blamed it on the “little cries” of places he says are becoming “a dangerous place” for writers.

McDonagh’s film The Banshees by Inisherin was nominated for nine Oscars this year. He is a previous award winner for his 2008 short film, revolverand it’s 2018 Three billboards outside Epping, Missouri was also nominated several times, with actress Frances McDormand winning.

His 2003 play The pillow manwhich tells the story of a writer imprisoned by a totalitarian state, is being revived on London’s West End stage in June.

McDonagh told the BBC that state-sponsored censorship of writers “isn’t getting any better”, adding: “It seems that governments are increasingly afraid of dissent.”

“I think it’s a very scary time,” he added, saying his view is that new writers should “get off social media,” “stop using the Internet,” and “go out there and be furious. “

American bestselling author Judy Blume, whose bestselling novel Always was removed from a school reading list in a Florida district and said last week that the current book-banning phenomenon is “worse than it was in the 1980s — it’s become political.”

Both authors’ comments follow the recent controversy over revised novels – with Agatha Christie and Roald Dahl among the celebrated authors whose copies have been updated by publishers. When publisher Puffin announced in February that it would remove offensive language from Dahl’s children’s books by 2023, the backlash was such that the publisher confirmed it would release two versions – one edited and one unchanged.