Review: The Pillowman

As I stepped gingerly off the bus at Heslington East last night, I was apprehensive for a couple of reasons. This was, believe it or not, my first venture to that previously abstract and intangible Mecca of modernity: TFTV. The eerily quiet, pristine nature of my surroundings immediately put me on tenterhooks. Furthermore I knew absolutely nothing about the play of which I was to attempt this, my first Vision review. I left the black box theatre musing how ironically pertinent a venue it was for this production of Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman, which was harrowing and absorbing in equal measure.

Upon entering, the audience is presented with a minimalist traverse setting complete with two men in white pyjamas; one asleep and one sat on a chair with his head bagged, evidently awaiting interrogation. The scene which unfolds upon the raising of the lights is one in which the protagonist Katurian (played by Ollie Brassell) is identified along with the sneeringly patronising detective Tupolski (played by Katie Harrison) and the belligerent “bulldog” policeman Ariel (Stewart Crank). All three play their part in creating a sufficiently authentic atmosphere of sinister confusion, in which Brassell’s Katurian appears to be a victim of mistaken identity or framing, by these agents of the totalitarian dictatorial state which he has the misfortune of residing in. The state it seems has taken umbrage with his nightmarish children’s stories; which strongly resemble future carnations of Heinrich Hoffmann’s Der Struwwelpetter. Brassell is engaging throughout the sequence, displaying childish ideals on the freedom of expression rendered obsolete by the current political regime. His flippant wit, self-absorption and nervous demeanour are the prevailing hallmarks of a frustrated artist torn between irritation at his diminished rights and skepticism towards the charges leveled at him, and his increasing fear for the safety of his psychologically traumatised brother Michal (played by Stevie Jeram), who has also been brought in for questioning. “Bad cop” Harrison secretes passive aggressive authority, seemingly reveling in her position of power whilst “Good cop” (Stewart Crank) treads the thin line between puritanical self-righteousness and a more aggressive lunacy to good effect as the scene oscillates between hilarity and the sinister.

After a good deal of moral posturing and lingering suggestions of torture, the play shifts when Katurian is presented with gruesome and incriminating evidence against himself and his brother, and demands to see him. Enter Jeram’s Michal – twinkling, childlike and unaffectedly funny – who bears the scars for Katurian’s prolifically sadistic creativity. The relationship between the two is charmingly tender, bringing forth allusions of George and Lenny in Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, with Brassell exhibiting the sort of parental care both have had violated by their own parents in different ways. Even as the scene becomes more and more morbid, Jeram manages to retain the sympathies of the audience in impressive fashion, while Brassell shifts from anger to anguish and finally on to his own cathartic resolution with commendable slickness.

As the production reaches its Zenith in the second act, with the re-introduction of Tupolski and Ariel, the moral status’ of the three remaining characters are skilfully interchanged insomuch as all three actors hold the position of power at certain points. Harrison reveals emotional complexities to her character, subtle vulnerabilities making her far more human, and, whilst sometimes trying too hard for laughter, she is convincing in her position of detached ambivalence. So too for Stewart Crank, whose portrayal of the uneducated but good-intentioned Alfa male, struggling to overcome the bias his past has inflicted upon him is one instantly relatable. As a group all three leave the audience flummoxed as to who is in the right, with the necessary conclusion being that all three are wrong. The sickness is in the state and it is that which both unifies and separates them.

The Pillowman is a smooth and impressive production, providing much food for thought and an excellent range of performance. I would highly recommend catching it to anyone who finds themselves marching East of the Heslington curtain this weekend.