Friends said it was fantastic.
It ended its run to rave reviews in New York and London. And this was its
encore performance because it was also very well received in Singapore last December.
But I didn't count on the Singapore Repertory Theatre's, The Pillowman, being a butt-crunching 3.5 hours long. I mean someone warned me it would be lengthy but not THIS lengthy! And since I'm still quite numbed (backside and all) by the experience, I shall let SISTIC give you a synopsis of this play by Irish playwright Martin McDonagh.
With the twists of a thriller, and the twisted logic of a horror film, The Pillowman is darkly funny and surprisingly poignant. Katurian, a writer of terrifying short stories, has been newly imprisoned and is questioned by the police, who scale new heights of brutality - and black humour - with their version of the good cop/bad cop mind game. Along the way, the reasons for the storyteller's capture are revealed in a viciously entertaining cat-and-mouse game that has you on the edge of your seat.Which isn't saying very much and still doesn't do justice to the dark humor and psychological thriller-esque mood of the entire production.
But its a seriously intelligent play. Frequent shocking morbidity and sometimes tiring soliloquies aside. Strongly fronted by an able cast of Adrian Pang (Tupolski), Michael Corbidge (Michal), Daniel Jenkins (Katurian) and Shane Mardjuki (Ariel) who would, collectively, perhaps do Singapore Theatre proud even on Broadway.
We enjoyed abit of mental stimulation on a Saturday evening.
A trifle disturbing really, but good creepy fun nonetheless, especially when they played RadioHead during the intermission.
Labels: Theatre