If you love theatre, go see The Pillowman at Steppenwolf. You have one week left before it closes.
Katurian, a short story writer living in an unnamed totalitarian state, is hauled in for questioning by the police. It seems that several children in the area have been horrifically murdered, the methods of their deaths apparently copied from Katurian?s graphically violent short stories. Including the ones that have never been published. Whoops.
Is Katurian responsible for inspiring a sick serial killer? Is Katurian the sick serial killer? Or have there even been any murders ? the state controls the newspapers, maybe it?s a setup to get rid of a writer who isn?t remotely political but whose works the authorities find offensive. And where does Katurian?s brain-damaged brother Michal fit in?
Jim True-Frost is great as Katurian K. Katurian (no nod to Kafka here, is there?). He goes from quaking bewilderment at why he?s being questioned, through HUGE plot twists, to being willing to give up his life if need be to preserve his work.
Tracy Letts plays Tupolski, the self-proclaimed Good Cop of the Good Cop/Bad Cop team interrogating Katurian. His blithe, sardonic, casually sadistic manner is used to dig into Katurian?s story, but also is directed with subtle ?accidental? jabs at his own partner.
His partner Ariel, played by Yasen Peyankov, is quite happy to be the Bad Cop, enthusiastically torturing the screaming (but thankfully offstage at that point) Katurian. The ferocity of Tupolski and Ariel is right out of a Cold War spy movie ? until we realize what they are accusing Katurian of. If he did what they think he did, their fury and disgust are absolutely justified, even if the torture isn't. Unless of course they?re play-acting in order to get rid of him.
Michael Shannon is Katurian?s brain damaged brother Michal. He walks an incredible tightrope of being a sitcom-friendly lovable retard (as he is frequently labeled in the show) and being something much more disquieting.
We also get to hear some of Katurian?s stories, some just verbally and some enacted by other cast members. Stories such as ?The Pillowman?, about a jolly, fluffy pillow creature who convinces children to commit suicide; a gruesome prequel to ?The Pied Piper of Hamlin?; and ?The Little Jesus?, about a six-year-old girl convinced that she is the second coming of Christ ? and which of Christ?s contemporaries her foster parents decide to emulate.
Brilliant, funny writing and haunting nightmare imagery combine to make this one of the most intense plays you?re ever going to see. The acting is uniformly brilliant. The only complaint I had is that it could have been longer ? meaning that it?s a three-act play presented with only one intermission. That kind of intensity can?t be maintained for an hour & a half first act. The first intermission should have been retained. Playwrights structure plays the way they do for a reason. Disregarding their structure hurts the play.
But that?s a minor complaint. See this see this see this!!!!
The reason I ended up seeing it was that Margie wanted to celebrate getting her new job by seeing a play in Chicago. The only problem was that she wanted to see The Two Noble Kinsmen at Chicago Shakespeare and I wanted to see The Pillowman. Actually, we each wanted to see both plays, but we can?t afford that yet. In fact, two tickets for one play would have been exorbitant right now. So this morning I popped for a five dollar train fare, walked from the Metra station to the Hottix booth and got two half-price tickets: one for The Two Noble Kinsmen and one for The Pillowman. Then I walked right back to the Metra station and came home. Later in the day, Margie & I got in the car, I dropped her off at Navy Pier and then drove to North & Halsted. After the show I phoned Margie and met her outside the theatre. We each got to see the show we wanted to see, for half price.
Side note: The Pillowman was brilliantly directed by Amy Morton. I first saw Amy Morton in 1980 at the Remains Theatre, playing Estragon in Waiting for Godot with William L. Peterson as Vladimir. They were both excellent, but the characters? relationship changes when one is male and one is female. When Estragon dropped her pants at the end of the show, it wasn?t that funny ? I just thought, ?Wow. Gogo has great legs.?
Anyway, the show is great. Go see it.
<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ November 06, 2006 01:48 AM: Message edited by: Sgt. Bilko ]</font>
