The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh
June 13, 14, 20, 21,26, 27, 28, 2008

This drama tells the tale of Katurian, a fiction writer living in a police state who is interrogated about the gruesome contents of his short stories, and their similarities to a number of bizarre incidents occurring locally. It turns out someone’s been killing children using the same horrific methods described in his stories.

Katurian of course denies these allegations, stating that although his stories are horrendous, it is the job of a storyteller to tell a story. But once you start hearing the stories themselves, in all their enchanting and repulsive glory, it begins to be less clear what is being told here, what’s a story, what’s real, and whether Katurian is really such a sympathetic character after all.

Pillowman is the most provocative work yet from the celebrated author of The Beauty Queen of Leenane, and also his most tender, examining how the redeeming and restorative powers of love and creativity can mitigate or be undone by darker impulses. The Pillowman is unlike anything else you’ll see,  a crackling and sublimely twisted night out.