Catherine Bennett resumes the weekly look at the performing arts world, with the sad end of Jerusalem, the luck of a cabbie, and French revolt. Do you hear the people sing?
Adam Alcock reviews Nigel Kennedy playing Vivaldi's Four Seasons and his own Four Elements at York Opera House.
Catherine Bennett highlights the trends in the performing arts world today.
Jonathan Cridford reviews 'Ghosts', one of the Freshers' plays for this year.
Martin McDonagh’s award-winning play, The Pillowman, follows the interrogation of Katurian Katurian, a writer whose stories predominantly feature the torture and killing of children, after the occurence of real murders that mirror those in his stories.
During the course of the play, some of these are enacted, including The Pillowman – about a man made of pillows, who assists young children to commit suicide to save them from the pain and cruelties of adult life.
Katurian’s stories require a particular logic from the audience, asking them to sympathise with those whose morbid actions seem to have good intentions and arguably even good results. The playwright tries to seduce the audience by this method throughout the play, so that, for example, despite Detective Ariel’s horrific on-stage violence, he is forgiven in the last moments of the play. However, Katurian’s earlier insistence that ‘there are no happy endings in real life’ meant that the hopeful final lines seemed empty, leaving me almost disappointed. Moreover, Sam Hinton’s portrayal of Katurian’s brother Mikhail, another character needing forgiveness, lost his child-like qualities at times and so his innocence.
The number of questions raised about morality, through topics including parenting, professional and state actions among others makes The Pillowman exhausting. Yet the audience was kept alert throughout the production not simply by the content but also by claims on the senses. Katurian’s blindfold in the first scene made us very aware of sound, while light later became important to emphasise the darkness. During the interrogation, a single light bulb lit the faces of the policemen and the suspect, while the surrounds were dark; dark as our understanding of the totalitarian state in the world outside the police station, which we saw only through Katurian’s warped stories.
The characters in his stories had cartoon-like hair and props that were child-like and sinister at the same time, following the theme, both in the play’s plot and the stories, of twisted childhood memories.
Jamie Wilkes as Katurian was an excellent lead, drawing the other characters out and showing, in his own expressions, their repressed feelings. Detective Tupolski was played brilliantly by Jonathan Kerridge-Phipps. Despite naming himself the ‘good cop,’ his passive aggression heightened the suspense and his dark humour was more sickening than the violent but juvenile bullying by Detective Ariel, sensitively played by Joe Hufton. Tom Powis’ superb direction of a very talented cast has ensured a fine production at the Drama Barn this weekend.
The Pillowman continues to run at the Drama Barn until Sunday night, with performances beginning at 7.30pm. Tickets are available on the door but arrive early to avoid disapointment
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