The Pillowman: A Play (Paperback)

by Martin McDonagh (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

PRAISE FOR MARTIN MCDONAGH AND THE PILLOWMAN:

"McDonagh is destined to be one of the theatrical luminaries of the 21st century." --The New Republic

"Energizing . . . a blindingly bright black comedy." --Ben Brantley, The New York Times

"A complex tale about life and art, about fact and illusion, about politics, society, cruelty and creativity." --Alastair Macaulay, Financial Times

"Martin McDonagh, master of bad taste in black comedy’s cause and persistent enfant terrible, leaps towards maturity in this dazzling, disquieting nightmare of a play which makes up its own Grimm fairy-tales." --Nicholas de Jongh, Evening Standard

"A play of extraordinary power and stunning theatrical bravura." --Michael Coveney, Daily Mail

Product Description
While still in his twenties, the Anglo-Irish playwright Martin McDonagh has filled houses in New York and London, been showered with the theatre world's most prestigious accolades, and electrified audiences with his cunningly crafted and outrageous tragicomedies. With echoes of Stoppard and Kafka, his latest drama, The Pillowman, is the viciously funny and seriously disturbing tale of a writer in an unnamed totalitarian state who is interrogated about the gruesome content of his short stories and their similarities to a number of child-murders occurring in his town.


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Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Faber & Faber (September 9, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0571220320
• ISBN-13: 978-0571220328
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #310,220 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lay Your Head Upon This Pillow, April 7, 2005

By	David Robson (Wilmington, DE) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Having been a fan of McDonagh's Leenane Trilogy, I couldn't wait to read his latest. I'd read some glowing reviews from the British premiere but was skeptical. Then, I read the play. While the set up seems from a police procedural, the twists, turns, and utter horror in the play are visceral and compelling.

A writer is being interrogated because the stories he writes often allude to the murder of children in hideous ways; children in the totalitarian state of his residence are now being killed in ways like the ones mentioned in the writer's work. Add to this the writer's mentally impaired brother and occasional acting out of his stories and you have complete, satisfying, darkly humorous and utterly theatrical play. The Pillowman is a beautifully ugly depiction of the the necessity of stories--to pain us, to heal us. It's quite a page-turner!

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow, June 16, 2005

By	Erika Sandberg (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

During my recent visit to London I was privileged to attend a show every one of my thirteen days there. After seeing everything from Taming of the Shrew to Pinter's Betrayal, the only show that made me say, "Wow that was incredible", was McDonough's The Pillowman. I find my self uttering the same phrase after reading a previous review of this amazing play. It's such a shame that people get so caught up in the superficial aspect of art that they fail to understand what makes it art in the first place. Shocking, twisted, dark as it may be, when it comes down to it, The Pillowman has nothing to do with murdering children. Any person with some sense can understand that it's about an artist's responsibility for their work and their protection under freedom of speech laws. Can an artist be held accountable for the feelings their work provokes? What if someone acts on those feelings...who is responsible then? I find it ironic that the very point the playwright is trying to get across mirrors the persecution he is facing now. To everyone... see this play. If you are unable to attend a production that's a shame because it's amazing live, but do the next best thing and pick up the script. It will change you.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Looks can be deceiving, March 4, 2006

By	K. P. Nash (Memphis, TN USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The title of this play makes it seem harmless enough, and to some I'm sure it was very good. However, that being said, if you are not a gore/horror fan, then you might not enjoy this play very much. At least 3 or 4 times throughout the play, a short story is told describing a gruesome murder, and a lot of descriptive adjectives are used to give the reader a mental picture of what is happening. Overall, the story is very good; the plot was well constructed, and I think the story was told in a very unique way. BUT you might want to give it a second thought if you are prone to squeamishness, throwing up, or nightmares.