Producing the Play.

Basic Facts
Production Organization:Originally produced by The National Theatre of Great Britian
Theatre: Booth Theatre
City/State: New York, New York.

Month/Year:Apr 10, 2005-Sep 18, 2005
Director: John Crowley
Desginers: Scenic Design by Scott Pask; Costume Design by Scott Pask; Lighting Design by Brian MacDevitt; Sound Design by Paul Arditti
Review Capsule:

As Tupolski, Jeff Goldblum gives what may be the erformance of his career, squeezing every ounce of humor out of the horror, and vice versa. John Simon; New York Theatre

http://nymag.com/nymetro/arts/theater/reviews/11755/

The relationship between Katurian and his brother, the childlike Michal, is mostly rooted in a more amiable storytelling, as befits a fraternal relationship in which one sibling assumes the parental role.

http://theater2.nytimes.com/2005/04/11/theater/reviews/11pill.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Basic Facts

Theatre :Cottesloe Theatre

Director:John Crowley

Designers:Designer:Scott Pask Lighting Designer: Hugh Vanstone Music:Paddy Cunneen, Fight Director:Terry King, Sound Designer:Paul Arditti
City,State: Greater London, England

Month,Year:Open 14 November 2003/Ended-17 April 2004

Review Capsules:

The great Jim Broadbent plays cruel, corrupt detective Tupolski in a totalitarian state. He provided moments of humour in the darkest stage production I have seen.

Daily Mirror, Kevin O’Sullivan, 14.11.03

http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/?lid=6096&dspl=reviews

McDonagh’s invention of a new comedy-horror genre and his virtuoso technical skill leaves most playwrights gasping. He can whip up character in seconds, thrill with lashings of violence and twist a plot and an audience round his little finger. He’s like a dazzling theatrical conjuror spinning out misanthropic versions of Tales of the Unexpected minus the whirligig theme tune and for those with strong stomachs it’s horribly watchable.

Independent Sunday, David Benedict, 23.11.03

http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/?lid=6096&dspl=reviews

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Basic Facts

Theatre:Sue Benner Theatre

Production Organization:23rd Productions
Director:Michelle Miall

Designers:Stage Design by Amanda Karo Lighting Design by Jason Glenwright Sound Composition by Chris Perren
City,State: Brisbane, Australia

Month,Year:18 March to 4 April 2009

Review Capsules:

The Pillowman is a challenging play with the most extraordinary blend of pathos and comedy. And with the recent debate over the Bill Henson case, it is also very timely in its themes, such as ‘Just what is the responsibility of the artist?’

http://www.australianstage.com.au/component/option,com_events/Itemid,20/agid,4534/catids,76/day,01/month,04/task,view_detail/year,2009/

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Basic Facts:

Theatre:Hyde Park Theatre

Director:Ken Webster

Designers:

City,State: Austin Texas

Month Year: June-July 2007

Review Capsules:

But over the course of the play, we observe a man who puts his fiction above all else, including human life. Few plays can make one actually gasp out loud in astonishment. McDonagh's work manages it every time. BY HANNAH KENAH

http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/review?oid=oid%3A494041

Playing Katurian's mentally challenged brother, Michal, Pickell is simple without being dull, and doesn't fall back on caricature to bring life to Michal. From his velcro-enclosed shoes to the rumpled red sweater that he constantly tugs and frets over, Pickell physically embodies his character effortlessly.By Jooley Ann in Arts and Entertainment on June 12, 2007

http://austinist.com/2007/06/12/austinist_reviews_the_pillowman.php
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Basic Facts:

Theatre:Heldt/Hall Theater

Director:Jonathan Taylor , Christina Vela

Designers:Set Designer(s): Bryan Wofford Lighting Designer(s): Laura McMeley Costume Designer(s): Tina Parker Sound Designer(s): Heath Gage

Month Year:09/12/08 - 10/11/08

City State:Dallas Texas

Review Capsules:

“Energizing . . . a blindingly bright black comedy.”– The New York Times

World of Play RoughDraft

Statements: In Russia, Writers were not treated well therefore; they had to be careful because they could end up exiled or dead. Some people did have a concern for the mentally ill in Russia. People had mixed fills about the Jews in Russia. Police still hold ridicules amounts of power and can get away with what they want to. Executions where done widely around and all done in secret therefore no one would really know the way Katurian and Micheal died. Could also help the light designer do lights for that final moment. KGB was used for watching and eliminating hostile threats to its government. This could also include writers who put their political belief in their writings. Hence why Katurian thought he was being taken in for questioning. They also had the power to do whatever they wanted to. You can see this in the scenes where they beat and abuse him. Even though the war was over Stalin still was able to install fear and paranogia to his people. Causing them to observe people who might be talking against the government. This would also be a reason why Katurian might have thought he was being taken in for questioning. This is important to me because it shows how the two officers could do whatever they wanted to Katurian and his brother and not suffer any repercussions. The Reign of Stalin help set up the KGB the use of propaganda and installed fear in all his country which allowed the whole country to become submissive to all his doings. This could also been seen why Katurain is very meek through the being of the play. This would help designers get a kind of feel for the show to make it a very gloom and big brother type set. I found this to be insightful on the way Russians carry themselves. I believe an actor can use this for extra research in creating their characters.

Russia of Play Micro

Moscow-
the largest city of Russia. It is also the largest metropolitan area in Europe, and ranks among the largest urban areas in the world. Moscow is a major political, economic, cultural, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the world, a global city. It is also the seventh largest city proper in the world, a megacity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow

Statement: This can be a great soruce for designers when they want to look at designing a set.

Clothing-
Russia is a vast nation and hence, the kind of clothing that one would notice in the dedicated stores of Moscow would naturally be quite different to that found in Siberia. Leather is a fetish in Russia. Lined with fur, the look has become synonymous with Russian clothing. In general, traditional Russian men like to flaunt leather a lot. In fact, till today, no matter what the time of the year is, a leather jacket is a cool thing to have! Russian women wear dresses or long skirts and blouses and love to flaunt high heels.
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/russian-clothing.html

Statement: Costumers would find this helpful when designing their costumes for the actors.

Moscow News paper-
Through the years, MN always stood up for what it believed in. Many an editor-in-chief at MN has been an ambitious, intelligent person with one goal - to form a strong bond between the reader and newspaper by keeping them abreast of prominent events, without being forced to close shop by the Communist Party. It did not always succeed. In 1949 it was shut down after its editor-in-chief, Mikhail Borodin, was arrested and shot as an "enemy of the people."
http://www.mnweekly.ru/about/history.html
Statement: Gives more explinations on how tight the media was and how careful one had to people with their ideas.

Writers in Moscow-

In Russia he was revered both as a writer and as a representative of the generation known as the Shestidesyatniki, the 1960s idealists who sought to break free of the brutality and lies of Stalin’s rule during the brief thaw under Nikita S. Khrushchev.Mr. Aksyonov was forced to leave Russia with his family after “The Burn” was published in Italy in 1980.Mr. Aksyonov initially managed to navigate within the Soviet system as a writer, but he began agitating censors with his participation in Metropol, the literary journal he started with other writers, which bypassed censors and was published in the United States. His novels “The Burn” and “Island of Crimea” were increasingly phantasmagoric and outspoken in their dissidence. For all the torment of his background, Mr. Aksyonov, as a prose stylist, was at the opposite pole from Mr. Solzhenitsyn, becoming a symbol of youthful promise and embracing fashion and jazz rather than dwelling on the miseries of the gulag. Ultimately, however, he shared Mr. Solzhenitsyn’s fate of exile from the Soviet Union.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/books/08aksyonov.html

Statement:Writers were not treated well therefor they had to be careful cause they could end up exiled or dead.

Mentally Ill schools in Russia-

in the Soviet Union, the impact of the Moscow school under Professor Snezhnevsky has ... mental illness was an important area of concern for 19th century Russian psychiatrists

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rls=com.microsoft%3A*%3AIE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7GGLD_en&q=Mentally+Ill+schools+in+Moscow+1950

Statment: Some people did have a concern for the mentally ill in Russia

Jew Treatment-

Jews played an important part of the Soviet military effort. Their role in the front lines was disproportionately higher then other national groups. While much of Soviet Jewry was decimated in the Holocaust, those living in Russia proper were mostly spared. After World War II was concluded, however, the attempts to suppress Soviet Jewry were resumed. Until Stalin’s death in 1953, Soviet Jews were placed in the gulag and were faced with significant physical oppression. In 1952, Stalin had a number of leading Russian Jewish intellectuals murdered in the “Night of the Murdered Poets.”
Even after Stalin’s death, the attempt to suppress Judaism and Jewish culture continued. Jewish books and religious articles had to be smuggled into the country and attempts to study the books and utilize the religious articles had to be clandestine. The covert nature restricted access to Jewish life to only a few individuals. The few Jews who continued participation in Jewish life were called refusniks, and were severely punished by the Soviet authorities. By 1965, only about 60 synagogues remained in all of Russia. It was not until Mikhail Gorbachev came to power and his policy of glasnost that restrictions on Soviet Jewry lessened.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/russia.html

Statement:People had mixed fills about the jews in Russia.

Children in Russia-

Russia was for the most part very child friendly. Lots of books were published for Russian children and there were lots of programed to help find Russian kids homes and protection although not all kids had it good. Many aspects of children's lives in Russia have been greatly affected by the overwhelming poverty. Stricken with devastating poverty, many Russian parents abandoned their children, resulting in close to two million orphans. In the most recent years, the social status of children is defined directly by the status of orphans. The lifestyle of Russian children is barely affected by the country's diversity, because the economy is the main determinant of children's status in Russia.

http://www.tulane.edu/~rouxbee/kids00/russia.html

Statement: This would explain the reasoning for Ariels extream hatred for Katurian at the begining for the play.

Police in Moscow-
“By rounding up, detaining and beating citizens who had taken to the streets to express their
views about the current state of affairs in the country, Russian authorities acted in open
violation of international human rights standards and demonstrated contempt for democratic
processes,”

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2004_2009/documents/fd/200/200704/20070423_helsinki_en.pdf
Statement: Police still hold ridculas amounts of power and can get away with what the want to.

Executions in Moscow-

According to a decision of the Ministry, the papers were forbidden a few months ago to publish in full the crimes for which the death sentences were pronounced, and a short time ago the Moscow Courts Martial stopped communicating even the numbers of the executions which took place. The executions are carried out in great secrecy at night, and in May last it was learned that fifteen executions had taken place at Moscow, of which no information had been supplied to the papers.

http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/anarchist_Archives/kropotkin/terror/chapter3.html

Statement: Executions where done widly around and all done in secret therefore no one would really know the way Katurian and Micheal died. Could also help the light designer do lights for that final moment.

Images

Soviet Union (Red Scare!)






Clothing (Now thats the latest trend)

Solzhen (Great Russian writer)

Propaganda ( The way to contol the people)

Stalin ( A man who claimed many lives)

Purge (All because of a mans paragonia)

Moscow (Largest City in Russia)

KGB(Always watching)






Post WW2 Russian (Being a rebuilder will suck...)







Mentally Ill (Russia would imprision thouse who were deamed mentally ill or executed them.)

Russia of Play Macro

KGB- The KGB actively suppressed “ideological subversion” — unorthodox political and religious ideas and the espousing dissidents--- KGB monitored the satellite-state populations for occurrences of “harmful attitudes” and “hostile acts
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KGB#History
Statement: KGB was used for watching and eliminating hostile threats to its goverment. This could also include writers who put their political belif in their writings. Hence why Katurian thought he was being takin in for questioning. They also had the power to do what ever they wanted to. You can see this in the scenes where they beat and abuse him.

Treatment of the Mentally Ill-
In the days of communism, people who were diagnosed as mentally ill were locked up in psychiatric hospitals and denied contact with the outside world.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3026648.stm
Statement: This gives evidence to Tuploski's statement. "We can excuted a spastic any day and we do."

Post WW2 Russia-
After the end of WWII, Stalin succeeded in dominating many states which his armies had liberated from the Nazis. Stalin was driven by one overpowering fear; future attack of his western border. This was not an unfounded fear as there have been numerous attacks and invasions of Russia and the Soviet Union from the West throughout history. His collection of captive Eastern European states served as the barrier or shield he needed and became known as the Iron Curtain. This isolationist behavior and expansion of Communism fostered distrust on the part of the West and brought about the Cold War.
http://www.russianlife.com/article.cfm?Number=633
Statement: Even though the war was over Stalin still was able to install fear and paranogia to his people. Causing them to observe people who might be talking against the goverment. This would also be a reason why Katurian might have thought he was being taken in for questioning.

Power of Police in Totalitarianism Goverment-
The operations of the police in a totalitarian regime are often unpredictable and do not follow any procedures in accordance with the law. Such police violence creates a sense of terror in all citizens and further represses any dissent towards the government.
http://essaysdaddy.com/free-essays-db/philosophy-essays/totalitarianism.html
Statement: This is important to me because it shows how the two officers could do what ever they wanted to Katurian and his brother and not suffer any repercussions.

Propaganda-
The Propaganda appeals to an emotional rather than rational side of its citizens. It explains everything in terms of the goal. It makes the goal appear to be attainable, and often falsifies data in order to make it seem like the economy is growing and that tremendous progress has been made. Through propaganda, a totalitarian government always tries to rationalize its ideas and gives the appearance that it has the best interests of the public in mind.
http://essaysdaddy.com/free-essays-db/philosophy-essays/totalitarianism.html
Statement: This could help show the mind set Katurian had at first about being a good citizen and never wanting to hurt his goverment.

Regin of Stalin-
Stalin ruled by terror for most of his years in office. He didn't allow anybody to say anything about his ideas. Stalin killed all that had helped him rise to power because he thought they would threaten his rules. Stalin was responsible for millions of deaths of Soviet peasants who discarded with his program called "Collective Agriculture"
http://www.essaydepot.com/essayme/103/index.php
Statement:The Reign of Stalin help set up the KGB the use of propraganda and entalled fear in all his country which allowed the whole country to become submissive to all his doings. This could also been seen why Katurain is very meek through the being of the play.

The Great Purge-
Great Purge was a series of campaigns of political repression and persecution in the Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin in 1936–1953. Also described as a "Soviet holocaust" by several authors in conjunction with Soviet famine of 1932-1953, in which 6-11 million peasants and kulaks were starved to death or executed), it involved the purge of the Communist Party and Government officials, repression of peasants, Red Army leadership, and the persecution of unaffiliated persons, characterized by widespread police surveillance, widespread suspicion of "saboteurs", imprisonment, and executions. According to the archive data, in 1937–58 the number of death sentences was 681,692 and many more died in GULAG labor camps.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Purge
Statement:This would help designers get a kind of feel for the show to make it a very gloom and big brother type set.

Soviet Union during the reign of Stalin-
This period of the Soviet Union was dominated by Joseph Stalin, who sought to reshape Soviet society with aggressive economic planning, in particular a sweeping collectivization of agriculture and development of industrial power. He also constructed a massive bureaucracy, which arguably is responsible for millions of deaths as a result of various purges and collectivization efforts. During his time as leader of the USSR, Stalin made frequent use of his secret police, gulags, and nearly unlimited power to reshape Soviet society.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Soviet_Union_(1927%E2%80%931953)
Statment-Gives more incite to character behaviors on how they should be molded.

Russian Economy-
The Russian economy is in disarray, and the standard of living for the average citizen is as low if not lower than the standards during the Communist rule.
http://www.megaessays.com/essay_search/russian_citizen.html
Statement: I would give this to the costume crew so they would know how to design the costumes.

Russian Philosophy-
The main impetus of Russian philosophy has always been towards the future, as its representatives strained to discern the features of the ‘new man’ (the term favoured by the left from the 1860s, with the addition of the adjective ‘Soviet’ after 1917), or the ‘integral personality’, as Slavophiles and neo-idealists preferred to describe the individual who would one day be free from the cognitive and moral defects that had hitherto prevented mankind from realizing its potential. The nature of these flaws and the specifications of the regenerated human being were the subject of bitter disputes between rival movements. Even on the left, models of the ‘new man’ varied widely, from the narrow rationalist who was the ideal of the ‘nihilists’ of the 1860s (see Nihilism, Russian; Russian Materialism: ‘the 1860s’) and subsequently of Lenin and Plekhanov, to Bakunin’s eternal rebel, who would embody the spontaneous spirit of freedom in defiance of all established authorities and orders. At the end of the nineteenth century, in the cultural ferment produced by new movements in philosophy and the arts emanating from the West, radical thinkers began en masse to renounce their predominantly rationalist models of the individual and society (see Russian Religious-Philosophical Renaissance). Nietzsche’s Superman had a pervasive influence on the ensuing ‘revaluation of values’, undertaken with the aim of formulating moral and social ideals that would embrace the manysidedness of human creativity (see Nietzsche: impact on Russian thought). Some radical philosophers (such as Berdiaev and Frank), in the process of moving from Marxism to neo-idealism, sought to reconcile Nietzsche’s aesthetic immoralism with Christian ethics, while the ‘Empiriocriticist’ group of Bolsheviks attempted to inject Russian Marxist philosophy with an element of heroic voluntarism by synthesizing it with Nietzschean self-affirmation and the pragmatism of Ernst Mach (see Russian Empiriocriticism). Nietzschean influences combined with the mechanistic scientism of Soviet Marxism in the Soviet model of the ‘new man’ (whose qualities Lysenko’s genetics suggested could be inherited by successive generations). In the post-Stalin ‘thaw’ some Soviet philosophers, including Il’enkov and Mamardashvili, began a critical rereading of Marx’s texts from an anthropocentric standpoint which emphasized the unpredictable and limitless potential of human consciousness (see Marxist philosophy, Russian and Soviet).
http://www.rep.routledge.com/article/E042#E042P5.29
Statement: I found this to be inciteful on the way Russians carry themselves. I believe an actor can use this for extra research in creating their characters.

Fable and Plot Summary

Fable
The play starts with Katurian who is in an interrogation room. Soon two men walk into the room with a big box of papers in one of the men arms. After a few exchange of words you find out that the names of the two men are Tuploski and Ariel. They are both cops. The engage in dialog for a while about why Katurian is there. For a while, it seems like they are playing mind games with him. Soon Ariel loses his temper and begins to assault Katurian. After a while, Tuploski stops him and starts to read Katurian one of his stories called the apple men. The apple men, tells a story about a little girl who has an abusive father. In the story, the girl craves little men made out of apples and presents them as a gift to her father. She tells him not to eat them but being the pig that he is he begins to eat the apple men unknowns to him that the apple men have razor blades in them. He gets get in the throat and chokes on his own blood killing him. Later that night the apple men tie the little girl down and jump down her throat making her choke on her own blood as well. After they finish reading the story, they continue to talk some more where after Tuploski and Ariel get into an argument. Ariel leaves saying he is going to “talk” to the other one. Which you find out that its Katurians brother who is a special needs person. They talk a little more where Katriuan loses his temper and begins to yell at Tuploski. Soon Ariel comes back into the room with a bloody towel around his hand. Katruian throws another tantrum worried about his brothers well being. After things settle down Tuploski gets a box and puts it on the table. They then talk about another story which is about a little Jewish boy who gets teased his entire life and a man comes by and the little boy and him share a sandwich. After they are finished, the man cuts the little boys toes off and rides away. At the end of the story you find out that he is the pied piper and he saved the little boy buy cutting his toes off that way he couldn’t walk into the cages and be kidnapped. Tuploski tells Katurian to open the box and when he does, he sees the toes. He shrills backward in horror. They tell him it belonged to a little Jewish boy who had his toes chopped off. When Katurian tries to defend himself Ariel rushes him and tries to force the toes into his mouth to make him swallow them. Tuploski again stops Ariel from doing so. They argue again and Ariel leaves in a huff to get some torture devices. The scene moves over to Michael, Katurian’s brother. He is talking about a story of the little apple men. He is interrupted multiple amounts of times by the screams of Katurian in the other room. After things calm down, Katruian is thrown into the room with Michael where they talk about the things that have happen. Katurian then asks Michael if he hurt any kids where Michael denies any involvement with the murder of the kids. He later admits to it, killing the children. Katurian has a moment of break down. He then attacks Michael and bangs him around for a while. They settle down and Katruian reads Michael a bed time story of the little green pig. After the story is over Katurian sees Michael sleeping. He knows they are going to bed killed so he kills his brother through suffocation so he does not have to face execution by the police. He then decides to take the fall for his brother and admit to all the killings of the kids. When Ariel and Tuploski talk to him again they realizes that Katurian has no idea about the true death of the kids. That he is innocent; the problem is they don’t know where the third little girl is. Ariel is ecstatic that the little girl might be alive. When they find out she is alive Ariel is happy but Tuploski is pissed. You find out that Tuploski didn’t care about the kids when Ariel did. They put a bag over Katurians head and count from 10 to 1. Before they get to one Tuploski shoots him at three. In the last few moments Katurian made another story. Ariel saves Katurians stories and puts them in case files so that he stories may live on.

Plot Summary
Katurian, a writer of grisly short stories often showing violence against children, has been arrested by two detectives, Ariel and Tupolski, because some of his stories resemble recent child murders. When he hears that his brother Michal has confessed to the murders and implicated Katurian, he resigns himself to his execution but attempts to save his stories from destruction. The play includes both narrations and reenactments of several of Katurian's stories, most notably the autobiographical "The Writer and the Writer's Brother," which tells how Katurian developed his disturbed imagination by hearing the sounds of Michal being tortured by their parents.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pillowman

Exegesis

Jewish Quarter
The Jewish Quarter (Hebrew: הרובע היהודי‎, HaRova HaYehudi or the Rova, Arabic: حارة اليهود‎) is one of the four traditional quarters of the Old City of Jerusalem. The 45,000 square meter area lies in the southeastern sector of the walled city, and stretches from the Zion Gate in the south, along the Armenian Quarter on the west, up to the Cardo in the north and extends to the Western Wall and the Temple Mount in the east.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Quarter

Subservient
useful in an inferior capacity
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/subservient

Oblique
morally, ethically, or mentally wrong; underhand; perverse. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/oblique

Esque
In the style or manner of,
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/-esque

Disposition
The power or liberty to control, direct, or dispose.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/disposition

Totalitarian
of or pertaining to a centralized government that does not tolerate parties of differing opinion and that exercises dictatorial control over many aspects of life.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/totalitarian

Spastic
Offensive Slang Clumsy or inept.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/spastic

Truncheon
: a shattered spear or lance
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/truncheon

Duress
Restraint or danger, actually inflicted or impending, which is sufficient in severity or apprehension to deprive a person of free choice, destroy his volition, or obtain consent only in form.
http://www.lectlaw.com/def/d082.htm

Characters

Cast of Characters

Men
Katurian K. Katurian - A man in his 20-30's he is a storie writer who writes pretty dark storys. He is easily pushed around and is very meek.

Tupolski-A cop who is investigating the case of Katurian and his brother Micheal. He seems very nice and very intelligent The good cop. He can be in his 20's-40's

Ariel-The Pittbull of the two cops. Ariel is egar to harm his suspects untill he gets what he wants. The bad cop. He can be in his 20's-40's

Micheal-The special needs brother, he is related to Katurian. Micheal is very happy for the most part he sees Katurian as the older brother. He also loves Katurians stories. He is around late 20's early 30's

A Man- He is in one of the stories looks very stern. Some where in the ball park of late 30's-late 50's

A Boy- He is in one of the stories 7-13

Women

Woman- She is in the storie with the man, husband and wife. 30's-50's

Girl- Same as the boy.

Basic Facts

Basics:
Author and Language
Martin McDonagh and English European.

Play Structrue
Act 1 has 2 Scenes Act 2 has 2 Scenes and Act 3 has 1 Scense

Runtime of the show
2 hours and 40mins
http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/?lid=6096

Characters
6 men 2 women
http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/?lid=6096

Genre:
Black Comedy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pillowman
Irish dark comedy
http://media.www.lawrentian.com/media/storage/paper409/news/2009/03/06/ArtsEntertainment/pillowman.Examines.Morals.With.Dark.Comedy-3659483.shtml
Dark Comedy / Thriller
http://www.what.org/news/pillowman.pdf

Playwrite:
Martin McDonagh was born in Camberwell, London (UK) on 26 March 1970 to Irish parents. He dropped out of school at age 16, living off welfare and taking a job every now and then. His parents moved back to Ireland when he was 16, and he stayed in London with his brother John. John McDonagh is also a writer, and wrote the screenplay for "Ned Kelly" starring Heath Ledger and Orlando Bloom. Martin started writing right after he left school. Most of his early writing consisted of radio plays and screenplays, until he wrote a series of theatre plays in 1994/1995 that would bring success.On 1 February 1996, The Beauty Queen of Leenane opened at the Town Hall Theatre in Galway. Only a month later, the same play opened at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs in London. The Beauty Queen of Leenane won the Critics' Circle Theatre Award in 1996. In 1999 The Lonesome West was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play. Other plays that were published and produced are A Skull in Connemara (1997), The Cripple of Inishmaan (1996), The Lieutenant of Inishmore (2001, nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play in 2006) and The Pillowman (2003). The Pillowman won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play in 2004, and was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play in 2005. Martin McDonagh is the first dramatist since Shakespeare to have four works professionally produced on the London stage in one single seasonHaving previously expressed a love of film, his success gave him the opportunity to make the short film Six Shooter, which he wrote and directed. The short film starred Ruaidhri Conroy and Brendan Gleeson, and was filmed on a train in Ireland. Six Shooter won the Academy Award for Best Short Film in 2006.
In 2007 he began filming his first feature film as a writer and director, In Bruges. The film was shot on location in Bruges, and also partially in London. The budget was $15 million, and the filming started in February, to end on 23 March. In Bruges opened the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and was praised by film critics. Lead characters in the film were played by Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson (who also played the lead in 2006's Six Shooter) and Ralph Fiennes. In Bruges is currently nominated for three Golden Globes, and amongst other awards has won Martin McDonagh the Writers Guild Award. In Bruges was also nominated for seven British Independent Film Awards, of which Martin won the "Best Screenplay" award Some of McDonagh's plays and screenplays have so far remained unpublished. One of them is The Banshees of Inisheer, the play that completes the Aran Islands Trilogy. According to Martin this is because "it isn't any good." Lists of unpublished work can also be found on this website.
In December 2008, The Cripple of Inishmaan opened off-Broadway, and Martin was present at the rehearsals and opening. He has expressed the possibility of making another film in a few years, but first wants to "travel, write and grow up".
http://www.martinmcdonagh.net/biography.htm

Publication
First published in 2003 by faber and Faber Limited

Rights
Rights own by the Dramatist
to order go to http://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?key=3682

Definitions of Dramaturgy

Dramaturgy- is the art of dramatic composition and the representation of the main elements of drama on the stage. Some dramatists combine writing and dramaturgy when creating a drama. Others work with a specialist, called a dramaturg, to adapt a work for the stage.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dramaturgy)

Dramaturgy-the art of writing and producing plays(http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dramaturgy)

Dramaturgy-the art or technique of dramatic composition and theatrical representation (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dramaturgy)