Twists abound in arresting 'Pillowman'
WATERTOWN -- Martin McDonagh's brilliant thriller ``The Pillowman" is set in an interrogation room. In the play's New England premiere at New Repertory Theatre, six mirrored panels run along the back wall, reflecting the actors as well as the audience. Along with detectives Tupolski and Ariel , we sit in judgment of Katurian , a feckless horror writer who has been hauled into this sinister chamber in an unnamed authoritarian state.
He is charged with the crime of . . . writing? At once, sympathies spring to Katurian. But then we're told that a series of brutal child slayings parallel similar events in his mostly unpublished work. Katurian is a suspect, but Tupolski and Ariel also seem to be playing a cat-and-mouse game of literary criticism with him. ``There's a twist," Katurian says about his stories, which are graphic and written in a disarmingly matter-of-fact prose style. And there's twist after twist in this startling, powerful drama.
``The Pillowman" had a Tony Award-winning Broadway run last year, and Rick Lombardo has directed an absolutely riveting production with a sublime cast at New Rep. The four actors embody complex nuances of humor, humanity, pathos, and psychological derangement. This is a play that keeps you off balance and constantly makes you shift your sympathies.
As Katurian, John Kuntz draws on a rich emotional palette. At first he's cowed by the detectives, only raising his eyes when he realizes he needs to defend the quality of his work. When Tupolski (Steven Barkhimer ) ridicules Katurian, saying that the hood over his head ``just looks stupid," Katurian immediately offers his ``complete respect" for the police. It's not exactly groveling, but it's certainly the kind of performance an innocent would make.
Katurian's vulnerability at the hands of Tupolski and Ariel (Phillip Patrone ) is electric. Patrone plays bad cop for most of the play. Jaw thrust forward, shoulders hunched, he's a man with fists at the ready. Barkhimer towers over the other two, but his pauses, eye rolls, and finger movements are delicate and precise -- a spider weaving a web.
The other potential innocent in the mix is Katurian's brother Michal . Mentally handicapped, he adores his brother's stories -- the gorier the better. He's especially fond of the story about the Pillowman, a shadowy figure who can travel back in time and change people's lives. Bradley Thoennes's affect as Michal is flawless -- his stammer, his outthrust lower lip, his blandly trusting gaze. It is impossible not to feel sympathy for him and his brother when their own childhood biographies are revealed.
This play packs an emotional wallop. It raises the question: Horrible things happen to everyone in childhood, so what do you do about this when you're an adult? McDonagh wisely leaves the conclusion up to the audience, save his original devastating premise: Our experiences may shape us for good or ill, but writing can tell us who we are.
