I must admit that I was not wildly enamoured by the name of the play I was asked to review this evening, The Pillowman. As an inveterate wuss (the technical term, I believe), I have grown to realise that anything beginning with ‘The’ and ending with ‘man’ tends to be a bit frightening for me. I was, however, drawn in by the notion of gender-blind casting and by the fact that the main character is a story-teller. So I accepted the offer to review the play (albeit, with some pre-show jitters).
What I witnessed this evening was much more than I had anticipated. The Pillowman is frightening; not in the spooky Hallowe’en-y way I expected, but rather in a deeply unsettling way which makes the viewer question their own mind in relation to the subject matter of the play.
It’s almost impossible not to draw comparisons to Kafka. The main character, Katurian, finds himself in a police cell in a totalitarian society, unsure of what crime he is meant to have committed. Unlike the unfortunates in Kafka’s plays, Katurian is able to discover his crime, but like them, he is unable to escape his inevitable fate. Claire Bowman (who is fast becoming one of my favourite Oxford actors) plays Katurian convincingly, running the gamut of emotions during her time in police custody. Her story-telling ability is magical and I’m glad that the gender-blind casting allowed her to take on this emotionally complex and probably rather draining role.
Emma D’Arcy plays Katurian’s brother, Michal, a developmentally-challenged man, who leans heavily on Katurian. D’Arcy’s performance is troubling and uncomfortable to watch, but the audience is compelled to keep watching. Michal’s dark nature and playful sense of humour offset each other throughout, and D’Arcy treads that line skilfully.
The supporting cast is strong: particularly Dominic Applewhite and Jonathan Purkiss as the interrogators, both of whom have suffered in the past. Their violence and doubletalk would be at home in a clever TV crime drama (I would certainly watch it), and their relationship seems as volatile as the one between the two brothers they are questioning.
The stories which create a framework for the play are horrible and brilliant at the same time. Reminiscent of the writings of T. C. Boyle, there are very few happy endings in Katurian’s stories, but they raise the fascinating questions of how the creative mind works, and what factors can bring out the dark heart of literature, and of humanity. Martin McDonagh is a superb writer, and has created stories to hold together the narrative arc of the play which captivate the audience from the beginning.
I highly recommend taking the time to see this play at the Oxford Playhouse until Saturday 1st November. The Pillowman is not an easy watch, but its seam of dark humour and its clever dialogue mean that you’ll want to talk about it for days afterwards. ★★★★☆ @BookingAround 30/10/14
