The Pillowman (Little Theatre, Adelaide)

Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman follows the story of a writer in a police state faced with the prospect of quite literally suffering for his art.

The play, presented by the University of Adelaide Theatre Guild, opens with two detectives (Tony Busch and Gary George) interrogating the writer Katurian (Bart Csorba) though he doesn’t know why, or what crime he has allegedly committed. After all, he just tells stories, right? Meanwhile, his mentally deficient brother Michal (Robert Bell) is imprisoned in the next room.

It turns out someone’s been killing children, using methods that seem to be based on Katurian’s dark fables. Katurian initially insists that the only duty of the storyteller is to tell a story, but soon the question is asked: should writers be held accountable for the power of their sometimes poisonous pens?

As Katurian and Michal are interrogated and tortured by the two detectives, whose good cop/bad cop routine has parallels and shifts in power dynamics that mirror the modern-day brothers Grimm they are holding captive, it becomes less clear what is real and what is a story, and where our sympathies should lie. Director Megan Dansie deftly handles spellbinding shifts in mood and tone, balancing the pace of revelation in a harrowing yet strangely beautiful play that swings between social realism and vaudeville, sometimes in the same scene, with a lightness of touch.

Amid all the murder, mayhem and authoritarianism is the brotherly love between Michal and Katurian. Their symbiotic and sometimes twisted bond is the heart of the play, beating strongly throughout bizarre and emotional turns in their relationship, sparked when Katurian and Michal are reunited in the same cell. Robert Bell is a highly intuitive actor, giving Michal the exact dosage of innocence required for us to wonder if he is as guileless as he first seems. Bart Csorba’s Katurian is a compelling mix of nervous energy and bursts of gravitas, which punch the audience in the guts like the blows the detective Ariel frequently gives out.

Katurian’s stories are the language the brothers use to speak to each other. The brilliant set design by Michael Kumnick creates a vivid contrast between the monochrome prison interrogation room and the brightly coloured worlds of Katurian’s stories, which are sometimes told or re-enacted in grimly fantastical style throughout the play. The fable after which the play is named is a particularly layered and poignant allegory.

Ultimately though, the power of this play, and the stories within this story, is that McDonagh isn’t trying to leave you with any particular message.

Rating: Four stars

The University of Adelaide Theatre Guild present
The Pillowman
Written by Martin McDonagh
Directed by Megan Dansie
Production design by Michael Kumnick
Lighting design and sound by Tim Allen
Music composed by Aaron Nash
Performed by Bart Csorba, Robert Bell, Tony Busch, Gary George, Steve Marvanek, Lucy Sutherland, Kate Vanderhorst

Little Theatre, Adelaide
October 4 – 8 and 11 – 15