Darkly comedic, “The Pillowman” is full of laugh-out-loud moments interspersed with incredibly graphic, morbid tales. The story follows Katurian (Lilly Allen), a writer whose work tends to involve children who are either murdered or abused (or both). She finds herself in trouble with the police after being framed for several murders, copying the work from her stories.
The play is set in a totalitarian state, meaning the officers Tuploski (Steve Pemberton) and Ariel (Paul Kaye) are able to use extreme force to make Katurian confess – and, once she confesses, the punishment will be execution. The play is at it’s best when these threats are merely hinted at. Pemberton is calm and cold, whereas Ariel tends to be more aggressive – and yet the only actual violent moment occurs about ten minutes into the play, as Katurian is thrown from her chair to the floor in a moment that felt too staged for my liking.
The entire first act, which lasts for a little over 45 minutes, in an elongated interrogation scene, in which Allen, Pemberton and Kaye are able to flex their acting muscles. The role of Katurian has been gender-swapped from a man to a woman, which lends a different nature to the threats that the policemen throw at her. The gender swapping doesn’t necessarily detract from the play though, and Allen plays the part well.
The second act introduces the final character to feature in this quartet – Katurian’s brother Michal (Matthew Tennyson), who has many comedic lines but becomes a little too dark and manipulative, not quite the innocent that I first imagined when I read the script. Still, it is clear that this is a choice made by the theatre, and Tennyson is more than able to lean into the more sadistic side of Michal.
Each scene is interspersed with a story, which Allen tells, whilst additional actors recreate the scenes behind her. These scenes are incredibly dark, and yet the second story (“The Little Jesus”) is offset by jaunty, upbeat music, which provides an additional level of creepiness and absurdity to the whole piece.
Allen is a masterful storyteller – she is able to bring the stories to life without the need for additional action, and there are moments during the second act where she simply sits and tells a story, and is successful in holding the audience’s interest. Pemberton also gets his go at storytelling in the third act, and is able to draw the audience in in a similar way.
This play is a stroke of genius. I was already a huge fan of the script before I saw it performed, but this production brings the script to life and adds even more. Each character is complex and well-realised, with not a weak link in the cast. A great show that shocked, entertained and made us think.
Tom Morley, July 2023
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