The Pillowman - Review

Reviewed by Regina Su
Last night, I walked into the New Theatre at Newtown to see The Pillowman with no expectations. This is not because I expected nothing, but more so because I read the blurb of this play and it mentioned a blurred reality between a writer's fiction and some child murders. A promotional pamphlet told me it was a twisted psychological piece and with the playwright being Martin McDonagh, I didn't suspect any less.

May I say, the play did not disappoint. It delivered exactly what the synopsis covers, and more. Only in this sense is the plot predictable. There's a writer and he writes short stories, short murders. A series of killing have occured, in the manner of his short stories, so what's happened?

There are so many dark twists and turns and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Afterwards, I thought to myself, two and a half hours of The Pillowman is a fair weight of psychological thrilling to stomach, but in hindsight, the play delved into each character's back story and motive, so there were no stones left unturned. I also reflected that perhaps the tone of the play had too many deep monologues that seemed to be undercut by a snide comment of black humour and at the time I was worried I wouldn't be given enough time to be able to sympathise with the characters in their moment of deep introspection. Again, hindsight worked wonders as I saw the power of the actors carry such a macabre topic with grace and sophistication- black humour and subtle social commentary are the only ways to hold an audience for that long on the topic of child-murders. Even Shakespeare knew the power, nay the necessity of comic relief. In that respect, I really admire the production team and actors for the delicate way in which they handled this play.

The was an overwhemling response of audience positivity and this was a testament to the power of storytelling, especially at interval when I sat and tried to figure out the direction of the play. When I figured it out, I was so excited, I had a moment of Wow and this realisation really shows how much, as an audience member, I had invested in this play and the fact that there this level of audience engagement means the production did something. If you opened yourself up to the limits of the stage, and allowed yourself to be swept along, the play was 3 hours of blissful oblivion. The use of sounding and stageplay were subtle and aided the play so perfectly, truly a professional job.

I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend all to see it before it ends on the 13th of April.

For more information, please visit http://www.newtheatre.org.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=132&Itemid=158