The Pillowman

Martin McDonagh needs no introduction. The multi-award winning playwright behind the blackest of black comedies A Behanding in Spokeane, The Lieutenant of Inishmann, The Beauty Queen of Leanne has become something of a Broadway and West End fixture along with his Oscar-Winning Six Shooter and features In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths, making it virtually redundant to say that the Anglo-Irishman can certainly spin a good yarn. When The Pillowman premiered at the National Theatre in London with Jim Broadbent and David Tennant, it brought him the Olivier Award as well before shocking audiences in New York the following year. 

For those who saw the MTC production (with Joel Edgerton, Dan Wyllie, Kim Gyngell and Greg Stone) you will know what’s in store: McDonagh’s trademark horror laced with gleeful wit as a writer is interrogated by a pair of policemen in a totalitarian state, over the gruesome content of his short stories and the similarities they share with a series of child murders. Director Benjamin Sheen has rejected the confines of traditional theatre and taken a fresh approach that highlights the various and blurred perspectives suggested by the text.

We the audience enter into the stark Off The Kerb Gallery to be seated in a single row against the four walls and witness the action through hanging walls of mesh (the interrogation room) revealing a man sitting with a cloth bag over his head). In the second act, we are silently lead into a separate room also covered in mesh which, although it is much more intimate, is nonetheless as oppressive before we return to the interrogation room for final act. The whole package is wrapped in a haunting and sometimes terrifying soundscape by Felicia King. Also effective is the simple lighting, which uses only available light but nonetheless achieves a beautiful sense of gloom.

Before long actors Josiah Ludlum (Tupolski), Ross Dwyer (Ariel) and Jess Newman as the unfortunate Katurian Katurian Katurian, grace us with their intense and magnetic presence, and the ride begins. Ludlum proves to be a master of timing delivering McDonagh’s rhythmic language and sharp dialogue with humour and menacing deadpan, while Dwyer demonstrates both restraint and explosive energy that is both frightening mesmerisingly good. All the cast are faultless. However, the absolute standout is newcomer Josh Orpin, as the “slow to get things” Michel, whose tragic and abusive childhood has forced Katurian to become a surrogate parent. His final moments are the most tender and heartbreaking seen in any play of recent times. It is a sad, sensitive performance that takes the breath away, a young actor to look out for.

Purists may cringe, but Sheen inventively uses projections of sketches and voice-over narration rather than the notorious dumb shows (which caused an audience member to have a heart attack in New York) to bring to Katurian’s stories to life. This may have been a choice due to budget and logistical constraints, but who cares? The result is every bit as diabolical and every bit as thrilling.

A decade on, The Pillowman still elicits laughs and gasps at every turn, and the time is right for this kind of reinvention. Benjamin Sheen is a director loaded with talent and promise, and while Four Letter Word Theatre (under the prolific and producing skills of Sara Tabitha Catchpole and Robert Smith) have consistently pushed out amazing work, The Pillowman is their finest to date. My only quibble, is the too short a season. Book a seat, bring a pillow (in a crisp white pillow slip) and get comfy, because you won’t be for long! Simply, one of the highlights of the 2014 Melbourne Fringe Festival.