(Note: This is an old post about a very good play that was performed earlier in the year so you can’t get tickets for it right now but if and when it does come back, you must grab tickets.)

The Story: The Pillowman is a psychological horror piece about Karturian Karturian (yes, that really is his name), a struggling writer who doesn’t have an audience for his macabre series of fairytales that mostly feature children dying gruesome deaths, losing a body part or both. Needless to say, when children start dying in ways similar to methods featured in his unpublished stories, Karturian is the prime suspect. Other main players in this piece include Karturian’s mentally-challenged brother, Michael (how come he gets the normal name?)  and a good-cop, bad-cop duo of detectives – both of whom have a strong personal attachment to this case. As the investigation goes on, more sinister details are revealed about the past of the Karturian brothers.

The play gets its name from one of Karturian’s characters, an entity who encourages children to commit suicide. Sound terrifying yet? Don’t worry – it gets better (or worse if you’re not a horror fan).

The Verdict: Let me start off by saying that the entire cast of The Pillowman is some kind of saint. Clocking in at almost three hours long with a relatively small cast of 7 people, it’s a miracle that all of them have the stamina and acting chops to go on for that long. Amazing. The most familiar face in this cast is probably Adrian Pang, who plays the good cop. (Although in this dystopian prison dungeon, bad cop and badder cop are more accurate terms to describe the detectives.)

An interesting aspect of the show would be the multi-media elements that provide a dark edge to the storytelling. Location wise, it doesn’t extend much beyond the interrogation rooms or the Karturian childhood home but during sequences where Karturian’s stories are being read out, the play steps away from the traditional real actors and delves into a graphic novel noir world and scenes from the stories are projected onto a screen in comic book form.

While the acting and production value of this play is stellar, the strongest aspect (in my opinion) of this play is still the story. Filled with intricacies that you’ll only spot later on, long after the show has finished, and painful situational irony, the story of The Pillowman delves into so many levels that you’ll find yourself #SHOOKT afterwards. I can’t go into too much detail because that would be spoiling the story and frankly, it’s extremely worth the watch.

Rating: 5/5 stars

(I personally love it although admittedly, it’s not very mass appeal – unlike most shows where you walk out feeling entertained, The Pillowman leaves you feeling awful. It’s been described by the makers themselves not as a feel-good play but a feel-like-crap <I don’t remember the actual quote> one. Not suitable for anyone under the age of 18 tbh and if you get lost easily, it’s extremely easy to lose yourself in the plays’ twist and turns. If you’re one of these people, then it’ll probably be a 2 or 3 star performance.)