The Pillowman | Good Time Theatrics
Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman is one of the best plays ever written, but also one of the hardest ever to tackle. For a director and an actor, the text is a feast of deliciousness to play with. For those who haven’t had the exquisite pleasure of reading this play or seeing it live before; it is a play in three acts including four characters (traditionally male) and typically three ensemble actors who act as the storytellers. It tells the tale of Katurian, a short story writer living in a dystopian country kept under control by a brutal police regime. Katurian and their brother Michal is interrogated by two cops about the gory details of their stories and how they relate to the murders of children living in the same city. It is a play that explores the rapport between an artist and their art, a theme that was sorely lacking in Good Time Theatrics’ latest production.
All images: Kate Lund
Directors Hannah Boyd (who also played Arial) and Sophie Wickes (who played Katurian) chose to adapt this work with an all-female cast; having the two police officers dressed in bright pink, almost cyber-punk like jumpsuits and gender-swapping the storyteller Katurian and their brother Michal. As a director myself, I thought this was an intriguing concept that had a lot of potential. Unfortunately, the inconsistency of direction resulted in this casting choice falling flat and undercutting the power of this award-winning text.
The lack of direction resulted in baffling performance choices by some actors that did a disservice to McDonagh’s rich tapestry of characters. Whilst actor Grace Lofting captured both the levity, nuance and darkness of Michael’s character, Wickes was miscast in the role of Katurian. Katurian’s complexity lies in the empathy that we feel for them from their passion as a storyteller and their troubled upbringing, married with the simmering darkness that lies just beneath the surface. This balance of shades was lost in Wickes’ performance which was very melodramatic at times and disconnected from the truth of her character. The one-note nature of Wickes’ performance resulted in the audience not caring about Katurian or being terrified of what she might do next, and this lack of a strong emotional connection is one of the core pillars of the work.
Jordan Riley who played Tupolski and Boyd’s Ariel had individual moments of connecting with their characters but failed to maintain the nuanced mix of comedy and intimidation that their police officer’s need to convey. Act Three had some highlights from their performances, with Riley finding the depth of Tupolski’s detective world view during her “Old Man and the Deaf Boy” story and Boyd’s sympathetic portrayal when recounting the troubled background of Ariel’s own upbringing. As an audience member, it was hard to feel intimidated by these corrupt policewomen when they leaned so hard into a “captain of the cheerleaders” snobbery, that ultimately weakened their moments of brutality.
All images: Kate Lund
One of the major parts of bringing this play to life is the staging of Katurian’s stories, which she recites throughout the play Directors Wickes and Boyd decided to use cardboard cut outs as props, which were ineffective in representing the gravity and emotional weight that these stories convey. Additionally, the use of a synth pop soundtrack in the most gruesome of stories was big misstep, as it was dissonant to the tone of the piece.
Good Time Theatric’s production of the Pillowman is an example of a well-intentioned idea executed inconsistently due to the lack of directorial voice.
This review was co-written by Virag Dombay and Harry Fritsch
