Comments on: From the dressing room - Oliver Kal as young Michal in The Pillowman http://blog.steppenwolf.org/2006/10/26/from-the-dressing-room-oliver-kal-as-young-michal-in-the-pillowman/ Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:03:36 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0 by: David New http://blog.steppenwolf.org/2006/10/26/from-the-dressing-room-oliver-kal-as-young-michal-in-the-pillowman/#comment-165 Wed, 15 Nov 2006 15:45:12 +0000 http://blog.steppenwolf.org/2006/10/26/from-the-dressing-room-oliver-kal-as-young-michal-in-the-pillowman/#comment-165 Hello to all at the Jobsite Theater! Thanks for posting on the blog. We too found presenting <i>The Pillowman</i> an exhilarating and fortifying experience. Interestingly, we did experience a similar response in terms of laughter. Without making sweeping generalizations, as there were certainly exceptions, it did seem that the production elicited laughter from our younger audience members in a way that our more mature audiences found confounding. We have post-show discussions after every performance and regularly an older patron would say that they had not laughed and could not understand why others did. Also, when sitting in our 500 seat house, one could here a kind of geographical laughter - a strong laugh from the right side of the balcony for instance. Or my favorite - the individual laugh when one person would guffaw entirely on their own. I think it has to do with the irreverence of McDonough's wit and the fact that younger people have grown up in a pop culture that includes the work of Quentin Tarantino and others who traffic in violent and funny black comedy. Hello to all at the Jobsite Theater! Thanks for posting on the blog. We too found presenting The Pillowman an exhilarating and fortifying experience. Interestingly, we did experience a similar response in terms of laughter. Without making sweeping generalizations, as there were certainly exceptions, it did seem that the production elicited laughter from our younger audience members in a way that our more mature audiences found confounding. We have post-show discussions after every performance and regularly an older patron would say that they had not laughed and could not understand why others did. Also, when sitting in our 500 seat house, one could here a kind of geographical laughter - a strong laugh from the right side of the balcony for instance. Or my favorite - the individual laugh when one person would guffaw entirely on their own. I think it has to do with the irreverence of McDonough’s wit and the fact that younger people have grown up in a pop culture that includes the work of Quentin Tarantino and others who traffic in violent and funny black comedy.

]]> by: Erica Porch http://blog.steppenwolf.org/2006/10/26/from-the-dressing-room-oliver-kal-as-young-michal-in-the-pillowman/#comment-161 Sun, 12 Nov 2006 01:28:44 +0000 http://blog.steppenwolf.org/2006/10/26/from-the-dressing-room-oliver-kal-as-young-michal-in-the-pillowman/#comment-161 Hello from the Jobsite Theater in Tampa, FL. We just closed our production of The Pillowman and would all have loved to come out to Chicago and seen your take on the play. And what an intense play it was. I am curious if your experience with producing this show was in any way similar to ours. We should compare show tapes and notes. One thing is for sure, we were all quite drained at the end of the run and ready for it to be over... but at the same time it was such a profound and moving experience that no one wanted it to end. Here is one specific question I would love to have answered. Did you experience this phenomenon... older audiences would love the show... love the performances, be stimulated and intrigued but would stand in the lobby at intermission asking each other why the younger people were laughing. Did your older patrons have a similar reaction? They enjoyed and appreciated the show but did not find the humor in it. Break legs tomorrow!!! Hello from the Jobsite Theater in Tampa, FL. We just closed our production of The Pillowman and would all have loved to come out to Chicago and seen your take on the play. And what an intense play it was. I am curious if your experience with producing this show was in any way similar to ours. We should compare show tapes and notes. One thing is for sure, we were all quite drained at the end of the run and ready for it to be over… but at the same time it was such a profound and moving experience that no one wanted it to end.
Here is one specific question I would love to have answered. Did you experience this phenomenon… older audiences would love the show… love the performances, be stimulated and intrigued but would stand in the lobby at intermission asking each other why the younger people were laughing. Did your older patrons have a similar reaction? They enjoyed and appreciated the show but did not find the humor in it.
Break legs tomorrow!!!

]]> by: Sean Graney http://blog.steppenwolf.org/2006/10/26/from-the-dressing-room-oliver-kal-as-young-michal-in-the-pillowman/#comment-160 Mon, 06 Nov 2006 17:52:57 +0000 http://blog.steppenwolf.org/2006/10/26/from-the-dressing-room-oliver-kal-as-young-michal-in-the-pillowman/#comment-160 <strong>We noticed that the actor playing Ariel had a distinctive slavic accent. Was the role of Ariel written specifically for a slavic actor? If so was this meant as an allusion to the the totalitarian regimes of Eastern Europe and Russia?</strong> This role was not written specifically an actor of any nationality. <strong>At some points of the play Katurian's brother acted as though he was almost completely incoherent, while at other times he appeared to be almost keenly aware of what was going on. Was this purposeful, and if so what is the audience supposed to tae away from his character?</strong> Michal is a very complicated character, he is referred to being mentally challenged by all the characters in the first act. Yet his actions and conversations do not always reflect that of a mentally challenged person. In my opinion, Michal was affected by the torture of his parents. But his mentality was not affected as much as it could have been. However, ever since they were children, Katurian has been treating Michal as if his brain had been severely damaged. So Michal unconsciously started playing into the role of being more challenged than he actually was. We noticed that the actor playing Ariel had a distinctive slavic accent. Was the role of Ariel written specifically for a slavic actor? If so was this meant as an allusion to the the totalitarian regimes of Eastern Europe and Russia?

This role was not written specifically an actor of any nationality.

At some points of the play Katurian’s brother acted as though he was almost completely incoherent, while at other times he appeared to be almost keenly aware of what was going on. Was this purposeful, and if so what is the audience supposed to tae away from his character?

Michal is a very complicated character, he is referred to being mentally challenged by all the characters in the first act. Yet his actions and conversations do not always reflect that of a mentally challenged person. In my opinion, Michal was affected by the torture of his parents. But his mentality was not affected as much as it could have been. However, ever since they were children, Katurian has been treating Michal as if his brain had been severely damaged. So Michal unconsciously started playing into the role of being more challenged than he actually was.

]]> by: David New http://blog.steppenwolf.org/2006/10/26/from-the-dressing-room-oliver-kal-as-young-michal-in-the-pillowman/#comment-159 Wed, 01 Nov 2006 15:11:58 +0000 http://blog.steppenwolf.org/2006/10/26/from-the-dressing-room-oliver-kal-as-young-michal-in-the-pillowman/#comment-159 Dear Tanya, Thank you for posting. Your reading of the play is beautiful and compelling. I lead many of the post-show discussions and a number of times people have offered a similar reading of the play - suggesting that perhaps it all takes place in the mind of one man and that the brothers Katurian and Michael are actually two facets of the artist. Your reading is replete in its inclusion of the parents and the totalitarian state. It is fortifying to be in conversation with our audience and I am glad you decided to join the conversation on the blog. Thank you very much. Dear Tanya,

Thank you for posting. Your reading of the play is beautiful and compelling. I lead many of the post-show discussions and a number of times people have offered a similar reading of the play - suggesting that perhaps it all takes place in the mind of one man and that the brothers Katurian and Michael are actually two facets of the artist. Your reading is replete in its inclusion of the parents and the totalitarian state. It is fortifying to be in conversation with our audience and I am glad you decided to join the conversation on the blog. Thank you very much.

]]> by: Tanya Levshina http://blog.steppenwolf.org/2006/10/26/from-the-dressing-room-oliver-kal-as-young-michal-in-the-pillowman/#comment-158 Tue, 31 Oct 2006 22:34:52 +0000 http://blog.steppenwolf.org/2006/10/26/from-the-dressing-room-oliver-kal-as-young-michal-in-the-pillowman/#comment-158 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 the 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. When we attended “the 31st-season kick-off “ celebration and Martha Lavey 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. 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 the 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. When we attended “the 31st-season kick-off “ celebration and Martha Lavey 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.

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