Weissbuch 1

Leah Wessbuch
Tony Abatemarco
Theater 150.2-3:50 PM
25 February 2012
The Pillowman
The Pillowman, a black comedy, by Martin McDonagh takes place in a
totalitarian police state and revolves around childrens author Katurian Katurian
Katurians interrogation by two cops, Ariel and Topolsky, for writing disturbing
childrens stories. The police also take his child brother Michal, who is slow to get
things as a result of abuse, as well. The Pillowman reveals how Katurians violent
children stories inspired his brother to murder five children, and after his brother
admits his guilt to the police, Katurian accepts punishment and puts his energy into
saving his work. I saw the play on February 20, 2014 at the Massman Theatre, and I
was surprised by how much I enjoyed the production despite its offensive nature.
For example, I found it difficult to sit through a lot of the play as it put a person with
severe mental illness in unflattering light. Still, I found that those aspects of the
productions did not distract from the overall message and intention of the play, the
importance and danger of art.
A person directed the play brilliantly and simplistically. Most of the aspects
of the artistic design of the production used starkly quirky and minimalist colors and
appearance. For example, the background set, the jail had a yellowy-green color
which worked in this bizarre place that mirrored reality like Lewis Carrolls Through

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the Looking Glass. The present-day in the show almost seemed real, while still
maintaining a fantastical quality. When people reenacted Katurians stories, the
opposite occurred, because there was a sense of complete ridiculousness and
metatheatre like when Katurians mother and father moved in perfect unison
throughout Katurians story about his childhood. In the interrogation scenes, there
was a little bit too much repetition in movement and choices, and after the second
scene, I really wanted a little more physicality. The main imaginative part that I
could tell that director Elise Napier played a huge part in was when Katurian told his
stories. I thought that Napier definitely put in the appropriate physicality in this
regard and made the stories come to life vividly. The only time I felt like the
direction was a little off was the first time Katurian read his story in jail, and I
thought that the actor playing Katurian did not feel comfortable with the directors
choices. The direction of The Pillowman effectively communicated clear choices and
aided the stories message.
As for the acting, everyone in the production worked well together as a cast
and individually. The characters in the play have an immense amount of depth and
are extremely difficult to pull off because they all are so horrible. For example,
Michal, played by Zach Cantrell, a mentally-ill character, could have easily been
trivialized and sincerely laughable, but the actor playing Michal constructed him as
a human being, which was comforting. I loved Michals physical and speech work.
Katurian, played by Dylan McTee who could have judged his character so easily,
stood out as a humanized and realistic character. Even though Katurian never
explicitly stated why he wanted to make sure the cops preserved his work, I felt like
the actor playing Katurian answered these questions through his commitment to the
role. Both Katurian and Michal connected well as brothers. The actresses playing

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the cops did a wonderful job as they had a very distinct relationship that I
understood well. I liked how Ariel played her role very one-note and how much
Topolsky gave her dimension because they had such contrast as the good cop and
bad cop and then bad cop and good cop when their roles reversed.
With the excellent acting and directing, the production portrayed the theme
of the play, the danger of stories and the importance of written word, effectively
through these aspects as well as other production elements such as music and
visual elements. For example, whenever a violent twist in Katurians stories
occurred, dark music played. The whole design concept showed a reality so similar
to what the world is today while still demonstrating a sick and twisted element.
Both of these aspects depicted the serious nature of the theme by making the
audience uncomfortable.
The show effectively communicated its message, and The Pillowman is a
meaningful piece of theatre that I thoroughly enjoyed