Pillowman First Night: The Season Begins
Posted by David New on 9/15/2006
Last night was an exciting and invigorating night for all of us at Steppenwolf. We welcomed the season’s first group of guests to a League of Chicago Theatre’s “Theatre Thursdays” event. This event coincided with the first preview of Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman. These LOCT events are held at theatres across the city and usually include some sort of social component in addition to the performance. We decided to expand the social component by inviting participants to view a screening of Six Shooter, the Academy Award-winning short film written and directed by Martin McDonagh. After a short reception with refreshments, we gathered in the Upstairs Theatre to watch the film. The screening was followed by a discussion of the film and the group went on for more food and drink.
The group of 80 or so then moved to the Downstairs Theatre for the first public performance of The Pillowman. A full house went on the topsy-turvy ride between the dark shadows and glimpses of light in which the playwright traffics. The playwright himself was present at the performance. He was recognized by a number of audience devotees at intermission who engaged him in conversation. Then all reconvened for the second act. Following the performance there was a post-show discussion attended by more than 50 people and as was our collective hunch - this play is fertile soil for conversation.
What was most striking to me however, in addition to the fullness of the day, was the difference of the audiences’ reactions to the screened film and the live performance. During the film there was a palpable tension in the room engendered by the dark humor of the narrative and uneasy laughter at some of the blacker comedy. In the live performance of the play that followed, however, there was a call and response between actor and audience. It allowed for a fuller release of laughter and - at times - audible gasps.
It was fascinating to be present at the telling of both of these stories written by a man so masterfully at the top of his craft and be able to compare and contrast them.
A special night at Steppenwolf - here’s to many more this season.
October 10th, 2006 at 8:17 am
I think that the play is a very prophetic statement of lament for the absence of any shared narrative. Everyone has a story in the play, they intersect but do not connect. I think that the playwright is deeply saddened, consciously, not likely, by the absence of any story that transcends and “holds” the individual narrative. All of the work of meaning in this play is singular and totally up to the individual with the exception of the “wounded” brother who is held up by the younger son. I see a very deep recognotion of the Christocentric sel sacrificing love in Katurian. The desire for the stories to survive comes not from his ego but his soul.
October 24th, 2006 at 10:56 am
My husband and I are Steppenwolf patrons for more then 10 years but for the first time two weeks ago we have decided to stay for discussion of The Pillowman. It was pretty interesting discussion but nobody has mentioned the interpretation of the play that seemed the most apparent to me. Yesterday we attended “the 31st-season kick-off “ celebration and Martha Lavey has mentioned about existence of the Stppenwolf ‘s blog. This information was nicely coincided with my sleepless night, so I decided to share my interpretation of the play with fellow bloggers.
The story of the Pillowman:
Everything that we saw on stage is really happening in the mind of one man - Katurian. He is a writer, an artist whose imagination allows him to go beyond the limit the “normal” person would ever want to go or have ability to go.
His painful childhood recollection and his sick imaginary brother are also products of his imagination. He is remembering his parents as a torturers, but actually they have been a ordinary people who have to deal with unordinary, vulnerable child, whom they desperately wanted to convert to a “pink” piggy. In his imagination the break with his parents is equal to the murder, and he is blaming himself for that but on the other hand he finds justification because he was saving his brother = his uniqueness, his vision of the world.
The Policemen are actually representing the outside world. Katurian is desperate to understand it and to some extend fit but is falling most of time. In the rare occasions he can see the connection when his stories strike a cord with some experiences the other people had (lost of child, tremulous relationship with a parent) . The totalitarian regime presented in the play is needed to show us that for Katurian the real world is closed, he does not have access to it and can not influence it, and everything that is happening is beyond his control. His only dream that he will be accepted in the future (his dream to save his work for 50 years).
The “Green piggy” tale is a dream of the self-assertion, it allows him to remain himself, and preserve his oddities - his pain, and his “sick” imagination because this is a will of God/Nature.
The dream of the Pillowman is a dream of freedom from the torture within.