The Pillowman - review

[Jane Zussman]

This show comes with a rave and a warning. It is a beautiful production of an ugly script. Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman rants and raves through fun subjects such as torture, child abuse and murder. A very dark comedy.

Director Adam Carlson has assembled an exceptional cast centered around Heath Sartorius as Katurian, a writer being interrogated in a totalitarian state because his gruesome stories mirror recent murders. Heath is the broken heart of the show. His fate becomes increasingly unclear as he clings to the hope that his stories will survive him. 

Good Cop/Bad Cop Jeff Kennedy and Brian Farnham put Katurian through the wringer. We meet his beloved “special needs” brother Michal, and experience a series of stories and memories featuring Mothers/Fathers/Boys/Girls well played by Liv Challa, Edric Haleen, and Neysa Nohara.

Brian and Jeff were “badder” than I've ever seen them on stage — and Lansing newcomer Sam Johnson was a disarming, childlike presence as brother Michel, a great addition to our theatre community.

The momentum, pace, intensity and passion of this cast is impressive. The script layers fictional stories upon traumatic memories and revelations shedding light and turning tables on the characters, exploring themes of trauma and the relationship between fiction and reality. 

The Pillowman is an Ixion Ensemble show and plays at Stage One at Sycamore Creek Eastwood on Lake Lansing Road (same place as Peppermint Creek) It runs two and a half hours which includes two intermissions. It runs through March 1.

General admsiion tickets at https://www.onthestage.tickets/show/ixion-ensemble/6977f28e43ecef104ea7dd5d

Jane Zussman

G.L.U.T. List

(Greater Lansing Ubiquitous Theatre)

cell 517-930-0932

JSZu...@gmail.com

http://www.greaterlansingtheatre.net 

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