Arts
A lot to chew on as a meaty script is well executed
Martin McDonagh’s scripts often embrace the most violent parts of our psyche, allowing it to run parallel with humour and dark wit making for a performance where you’re not sure you should be laughing or gasping. Films such as ‘Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri’ or 2008’s ‘In Bruges’ are classic examples of this and ‘The Pillowman’ is no different, involving a young writer, Katurian, who is taken into custody in connection with a string of child murders that resemble some of the grizzly short stories he has written.
In terms of production, it’s a play where you can do as little or as much you want and in the quaint space that is the Punchi Theatre, director Shannon Misso opted for a modest approach with hardly anything by way of set, instead letting the acting and storyline take centre stage. Katurian and his brother Michel were subjects of an “artistic experiment” at the hands of their parents, where the former was nurtured lovingly and encouraged to write his stories which became darker as he heard the latter being tortured and abused. Upon this discovery, Katurian kills his parents and takes care of his brother who becomes disabled because of the abuse.
Overall, the acting from the entire cast was solid, and it is not lost on the audience how four of the characters were re-gendered as women (which did not alter the plotline in any way but felt like a natural choice). Like Katurian and Michel, the cops who interrogate them have both been exposed to some form of abuse as children which has played a part in how they act as adults. Both actresses pulled off their characters with aplomb with Ashini Fernando embracing the aggressive and sadistic nature of Ariel in opposition to the cool and scrupulous Tupolski played by Bimsara Premaratna. McDonaugh’s greatest strength is his command of speech which means sentences are regurgitated, re-analysed, rephrased and spat out alongside numerous expletives which is something Premaratna used to her advantage as she psychologically manipulated Katurian.
But the play really comes into its own in the second act when it is just Katurian, (Yasas R. Ratnayake) Michel (Biman Wimalaratne) and their younger alternative selves (played by Swasha Perera and Tracy Jayasinghe) onstage and ideas regarding the nature of brotherhood are thrown about.
I found myself constantly comparing them to George and Lennie from John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men” – one is fiercely protective of the other and though Michel is sweet, he is often careless, turning Katurian’s patience into anger. But he is unwavering in his loyalty towards his brother.
Ultimately, Wimalaratne gave the most compelling performance. It’s always tetchy trying to play somebody with a mental disability because you’re in danger of offending a community that frequently gets misrepresented but he handled it perfectly, capturing Michel’s idiosyncrasies, humour and charm.
In some ways though this isn’t just about art imitating life it feels more like life imitating art. Katurian chooses not to write happy endings in his stories as he believes there are rarely any happy endings in real life, but this just prompts his own (*spoiler alert*) brother to go and mutilate some children thus giving the situation a cyclical nature. I liked that the production went one step further and chose to enhance the stories with excellent animated videos (created by Dinendri Indatissa) – although I wished they had been formatted to fit the entire backdrop instead of just half of it.
It’s a long show with a run time of 110 minutes but it did go by quite quickly and it never felt laborious because the play gave you a lot to chew on by way of dealing with abuse, suicide, murder and quite prominently, the effects of childhood trauma. It’s hard to walk away from a play like this and not think about the dismal reality of life and I don’t think any parent went away not thinking about the long term consequences of their actions (whatever they may be) on their children. I’ve always thought that half the director’s battle is won if you have a fine script and a meaty story to work with but of course the next half is dependent on your ability to do it justice for which Shannon Misso and her entire cast should be commended.
Tough cops: Characters that were re-gendered as women felt like a natural choice. Pix by Indika Handuwala
Acting from the entire cast was solid. (Scenes from the play above and below)