We went to see the Pillowman on Saturday night. It was a sold out show. They had all the names from the reservations already attached to chairs. I suppose to make you feel like you were entering a totalitarian regime where the state knows that you’re visiting the theater. This ended up leaving some people pretty cranky, though, as they couldn’t choose their own seats.

I’d read this play before. I should really come out in the open. I don’t read plays. I think the Pillowman is the only play I’ve read in the past 3 years (ok, I read Swimming to Cambodia, but that’s a monologue). Dolores said I should read it. It’s pretty well written, but it’s very, very dark.

I told Julie it was dark on the way there, and she said, “Well, yeah, it’s a black comedy”. I just reiterated that it was more of a dark comedy than a black one. And it was just as unsettling in person.

The play starts out with a scene straight out of Kafka’s “The Trial”. A man is interrogated for reasons unknown to him, but possibly related to the stories he writes. The stories generally involve children coming to a dark and brutal end. And as the play progresses we learn how this all relates to the storyteller’s family life.

The play was really well acted. The set design was quite nice, and the way they integrated non-realistic story-vignettes was quite well done. The problem is that the play is long. It reads quickly, but it’s really long. According to our friend Norman it really should be a 3 act play with 2 intermissions. Hyde Park staged it with only one intermission. And you’ll feel that. It’s hard not to get antsy from sitting so long. The first act is longer than most one act plays (and quite a few two acts).

The writing is so floral. There are so many stories, and substories, and plot points. All the characters are well developed, including the interrogating policemen, but at some point you just want the plot to move forward and to stop being so beautifully developed. Perhaps that’s the part of me talking that watches too many movies.

Also, it’s really dark. I left the theater feeling disquieted. The play reminds me of Chuck Paluhniuk when he’s just being disgusting for no real reason other than he’s being disgusting. The stories are so consistently dark, that I just eventually couldn’t completely enjoy the comedy of the play. And it does have quite a bit of really good comedy.

In any case, it was really well directed and acted. It’ll be one of the better theater pieces you see this year, so get out there and see it

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Comments

Jooley Ann (www.julieholden.com)

2007-06-12T21:19:30.000Z

Hey, I’m glad you liked The Pillowman, too! I like it when ppl like the same theatre as I do. :) My review is on Austinist — and, heh, I made a reference to Paluhniuk too! I wonder how many people who are familiar w/ his work have that reaction to Pillowman?