Author:

Martin McDonagh

Venue:

St James Cavalier

Dates:

4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13 November 2005

Extra:

17, 18, 19, 20 November 2005

Director:

Chris Gatt

Cast:

Jes Camilleri, Manuel Cauchi, Kevin Drake, Alan Paris, Sharon Bezzina, Charmaine Scerri-Parnis, Adrian Buckle, Andrè Agius, Harley Mallia, Matthew Drake

Summary:

A multi award winning dark comedy set in an unnamed totalitarian state, ‘The Pillowman’ introduces us to writer Katurian who is being interrogated by policemen due to the similarity between his stories and actual murders happening in his neighbourhood.

What the press said:

Directed by Chris Gatt, this contained three quite brilliant performances from Kevin Drake, Manuel Cauchi and Jes Camilleri. — Showtime, 2-6-06

Best Performances in 2005/6: Manuel Cauchi in The Pillowman — Showtime, 2-6-06

Yet if one is to look at a performance like THE PILLOWMAN held last month at St James, one looks at a performance that works and not specifically at the identity it gives us. If I'm going to fall into the stereotype of having to rate things, as is normally done in annual round-ups, then the Oscar for Best Performance as a whole goes to this event by Unifaun, produced by Adrian Buckle, directed by Chris Gatt. Cast included Jes Camilleri convincingly playing the role of an intellectually disabled man, Kevin Drake, Manuel Cauchi and Alan Paris. —Louise Ghirlando, Weekender, 31 December 2005

Scenes are handled deftly by Chris Gatt, who directs this difficult play with an unfailingly sure touch. —Paul Xuereb, The Sunday Times, 20-11-05

[The actors]… give first-class performances, Drake and Camilleri being at their best ever. —Paul Xuereb, The Sunday Times, 20-11-05

Paris's range of tones and stresses make him (the character) more interesting even before the final scenes where he grips our attention. —Paul Xuereb, The Sunday Times, 20-11-05

Cauchi's trademark suave style of speech and restrained body language fit well into this interpretation. —Paul Xuereb, The Sunday Times, 20-11-05

Jes Camilleri and Kevin Drake give their best performance ever in THE PILLOWMAN. —Paul Xuereb, The Sunday Times, 20-11-05

Brilliant imagination, black humour, comic relief, and engaged acting have been put together to create a disturbing, intense, and superbly worked performance. —Louise Ghirlando, Weekender, 19-11-05

It's the best piece of theatre to hit the boards in Malta for quite a few years… This play is a cut above the rest, and then some. —I.M.Beck, The Times, 19-11-05

A play set to blow your mind away. —Noemi Zarb, The Sunday Times, 06-11-05

Electrifying play! —Mario Azzopardi, Kultura 21, 20-11-05

One of the best theatre productions I've ever seen in Malta… A memorable evening! —Dr Alfred Sant (Leader of the Opposition), It-Torca, 27-11-05

The actors were exceptional, namely with Kevin Drake as Katurian, but also with Manuel Cauchi, Jes Camilleri and Alan Paris giving lifetime performances. —Dr Alfred Sant (Leader of the Opposition), It-Torca, 27-11-05

The Pillowman is unequivocally terrific theatre. —The Malta Independent, 05-11-05

It is a play full of entertainment, not one to miss but with no guarantee that you will manage to sleep at night after this exceptional experience . . . —Jo Ann Vassallo, Weekender, 05-11-05

Fear, fiction and performance fuse to form an intriguing spectacle. —Claire Bonello, Circle Magazine, November 05

Synopsis

“Once upon a time there was a large, soft and very friendly man, made up entirely of pillow. He had a pillow body, a pillow head, pillow eyes and when he opened his mouth, there were tiny little pillow teeth. Everyone loved the Pillowman - who could be afraid of such a soft, cuddly character? He needed to be so nice because he had a very difficult job. When he saw people having really miserable, horrible lives, lives that destroyed everything about them, he could take those people back in time to when they were happy children. By explaining what wretched lives they were going to have, he would help them, while they were still happy, escape the misery fate had in store for them…”

The Pillowman is about a writer in a totalitarian state, arrested, interrogated, tortured and browbeaten because he writes about abused and battered children. And children are being abused and battered and murdered in line with his stories. Scared, in a panic and determined to justify himself, can a writer be blamed if his stories mimic life too closely? This dark, political comedy examines the issues.

The Pillowman is about stories and storytelling. The play is created by stringing together a series of stories, captivatingly told. It is about what an artist might leave to posterity. How important are those stories? And although the central character is a writer, these are stories of an anthropological type, archetypes told not read, for all time.

The Pillowman is a dark, semi-auto-biographical play about child-abuse and its continuing affects. Two brothers, subject to appalling abuse as children re-live their fears and re-enact their abuse as adults in a tragic story of childhood abuse.

The Pillowman is a black comedy of the highest class; while much of its subject matter is dark and even shocking, the audience still spends much of the time laughing, as McDonaghs' gallows humour hits the mark again and again. For all its dark themes this is a wonderfully entertaining play…
…and a very moving play…
…and a shocking play.

The cast, directed by Chris Gatt, is set to include Manuel Cauchi, Kevin Drake, Alan Paris and Jes Camilleri in the main roles as well as talented new-comers Adrian Buckle, Charmaine Scerri-Parnis, Andre Agius, Harley Mallia and Matthew Drake supporting the impressively strong cast.

It is scheduled to run on the 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13 November 2005 at St James Cavalier at 19:30. Opening night tickets available at the special price of Lm4.50. Special rates for students on all shows.

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