Theatre Review: The Pillowman

I’ve got to admit I’m pretty new to Martin McDonagh (who wrote In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths), so I wasn’t too sure what I’d let myself in for when I went to see a rehearsed reading of his play The Pillowman at The MAC last Wednesday. However, I was in for a pleasant surprise. The reading was performed by Chatterbox Productions to raise money to send their play ‘Little Jokes’ to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. We wrote a preview about it which you can read here.

I’ve never been to a rehearsed reading before either, so it was a night of firsts. Basically it’s just a run through of the play, with no costumes (everyone wears black), no props and a narrator reads out the stage directions rather than them being acted out. This suited the play perfectly. The whole thing is dark, twisted and extremely intriguing. The Pillowman is McDonagh’s first play that isn’t set in Ireland, but instead is set in a fictitious totalitarian state and sees our protagonist Katurian (a writer of fairytales and fables) being questioned in relation to the killings of local children which somehow mirror the acts in his stories.

The cast consists of four, two men and two women police officers (played by Rosie Barry and Hannah Coyle), alongside a narrator who reads out the actions. Katurian, played by Gary Crossan is astounding. Even though this is just a reading, he plays the character with just the right mix of confusion, anger and humour. The other star of the show is undoubtedly Chris Grant, who plays Michal, Katurian’s brother who is “slow to get things”. This character is played perfectly also, he’s funny, cute and you just want to look after him.

McDonagh’s dialogue is what sets him apart, he has it down to an art form. You don’t want to miss a second of the action and the Chatterbox team really pull it off. Like the rest of his plays, The Pillowman is written impeccably, it’s a dark story, full of black humour. A few of the short stories that Katurian writes get read out throughout the play and they’re fantastic, proper sadistic fairytales which make you think. Words don’t really do it justice, you’ll just have to experience The Pillowman for yourself…