| pillowman_programme_notes.doc |
Programme Notes for The Pillowman
Thursday 16th April
Lyric Theatre.7.45 pm.
Please be seated by 7.30 pm if you wish to hear these notes read before the play.
The Pillowman
The Pillowman, by Martin Mc Donagh is set in a fictional totalitarian state. The play examines the fate of a writer whose grim children’s stories are judged to be subversive, and appear to be inspiring real life murders.
The Pillowman opens in a prison cell where Katurian is being questioned. Two interrogators tease out the resemblance between real and fictional worlds while probing the personal responsibility of the writer. Story piles upon story as the evening progresses and the tension mounts when parallel interviews taking place in the adjoining cell with the writer’s brother are revealed.
The cast (in order of appearance)
Katurian, the writer, is played by Peter Campion. Katurian is a young man, about 29 years old with black wavy hair, thick dark eyebrows, and a heart shaped face with large dark eyes. Slim, of medium height, he wears a white shirt, black tie, and a grey jacket teamed with brown trousers. His brown shoes are scuffed.
Tupolski, the interrogator, is played by David Mc Savage, a broad shouldered, extremely tall man, about 6ft 2ins, and in his mid fifties. His head is shaved and shiny on top but has black short hair on each side. He has a long face, and a hooked nose upon which his spectacles rest. His forehead wrinkles when he speaks. Tupolski is very smartly dressed in a three piece grey suit, a white shirt and a blue tie. A silver pocket watch peeps out from under his jacket.
The part of Ariel, the second policeman, is performed by Gary Lydon. His greasy black receding hair is threaded with grey and frames a rather fleshy full face. He is about 5ft 10ins, wears a blue shirt with a brown and a black tie hanging loosely under the collar. Striped braces support his black baggy trousers which cover a large protruding stomach. Ariel is also in his fifties.
Played by Michael Ford-Fitzgerald, Katurian’s brother Michal is two years older than Katurian and about the same height. Michal’s brown hair is thick, cut in a short back and side’s style. He thrusts his head and chin forward emphasising his thick lips and wide mouth. His arms and hands hang limply in front. His light brown cardigan is buttoned up over a beige shirt and tie. He wears grey trousers and scuffed brown shoes.
Jarlath Tivnan, Kate Murray, Peter Shine, Tara Finn and Rosa Makela share the roles of the parents, foster parents and children.
Katurian’s father in the first story is sharply dressed in a grey three piece suit, white shirt and black bow tie. His spectacles have thick black rims and his hair is black and receding.
His mother has black wavy hair, wears a red fitted knee length dress and walks around without shoes.
One of the story actors plays the seven year old Katurian wearing a pair of blue striped pyjamas. The same actor becomes Katurian aged 14. He is dressed in a black jacket over a beige cardigan and brown trousers. The little child lying on the bed in the adjacent room wears pink pyjamas and has short blonde hair.
In the second story the little girl is clothed in a calf length cream dress with puffed sleeves, a Peter Pan collar and a ribbon round her waist tied in a bow at the back. Her strapped shoes are cream. She has blonde frizzy hair arranged in two pigtails.
Her dark haired father has an open neck grey shirt tucked into dark trousers. He sports a dark moustache.
Her mother is dressed in a black and white flower patterned calf length skirt gathered at the waist.
The blind man has black hair, and wears a short black overcoat. He wears sun glasses and carries a white stick.
The foster father in the play story sports a black moustache, a black bowler hat, a black knee length coat featuring a fur collar, teamed with cream trousers tucked into black knee length boots.
The blond foster mother is attired in a black coat, small black hat with a feather, black high heels, black stockings and suspenders.
The actors in these story plays use a style of acting which involves miming the story in jerky, puppet like movements. The perfect timing of the actors’ lips in mouthing the words of their character, spoken by the storyteller causes laughter, especially when he speaks the female roles.
The Set
The stark set consists of a circular tower-like building cut in half vertically, completely open at the front, with the circular stone floor projecting from the interior out into the stage front. This takes up the centre third of the stage, which is black on either side.
The high curved tower walls are made of cracked rough grey concrete panels.
Scene One: In the police interrogation room, a high rectangular barred window is set into the left hand wall, below which is a recessed a square grey steel safe. At the right hand side, a concrete step leads up to a thick metal door, studded at the sides and across the middle, and with a barred grill at eye height, through which light streams.
This room has a solid square wooden table, set end on, centre, with three black tubular metal chairs, with red leatherette seats and backs, stained with white paint drips. One chair is to the left, near the wall, another is behind the table, and the third, in which the interrogator sits is to the right behind the table. On the table is a rectangular cardboard box file of papers. To the left a metal waste paper basket is on the floor.
Scene Two: The curved panel walls part to reveal two adjoining bedrooms, which are ten feet above, at the back of the set.
Initially, only the left bedroom is illuminated, the one on the right is completely dark.
The bedroom on the left has a low bed, with a sheet and thin cover. A mobile of animals is suspended above the bed. A white rocking horse sits on its end in the corner right.
The walls are pale grey, a tall white painted sash window takes up most of the rear wall, and there is a white wooden panelled door into the adjoining room.
The room on the right is dimly lit, making it difficult to discern the low wooden bed with grubby covers, against the grey right wall. Electric flexes, leads and plugs hang from the ceiling, and a tool kit and electric drill lie on the floor.
Scene Three: Michal’s cell is the same as the interrogation room in Scene One, with the only change being a door made of metal bars, through which light streams, set into the right wall. The circular cement floor protrudes from the cell to the front
There is no furniture, only a thin striped mattress pushed against the left wall, and grubby pillow at the end of the bed nearest the front of the cell.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
In the second half of the play, the walls part and an out door scene takes place on the raised area at the rear. The ground, covered in straw, has a pinky brown hue.
Later on, this space becomes a forest with the addition of trees in the background.
Surrounded by total darkness, these elevated spaces appear as if suspended in mid air.
PRODUCER : Gerry Barnes
DIRECTOR: Andrew Flynn
SET DESIGN: Owen MacCarthaigh
COMPOSER/SOUND DESIGN: Carl Kennedy
LIGHTING: Ciaran Bagnall
Thursday 16th April
Lyric Theatre.7.45 pm.
Please be seated by 7.30 pm if you wish to hear these notes read before the play.
The Pillowman
The Pillowman, by Martin Mc Donagh is set in a fictional totalitarian state. The play examines the fate of a writer whose grim children’s stories are judged to be subversive, and appear to be inspiring real life murders.
The Pillowman opens in a prison cell where Katurian is being questioned. Two interrogators tease out the resemblance between real and fictional worlds while probing the personal responsibility of the writer. Story piles upon story as the evening progresses and the tension mounts when parallel interviews taking place in the adjoining cell with the writer’s brother are revealed.
The cast (in order of appearance)
Katurian, the writer, is played by Peter Campion. Katurian is a young man, about 29 years old with black wavy hair, thick dark eyebrows, and a heart shaped face with large dark eyes. Slim, of medium height, he wears a white shirt, black tie, and a grey jacket teamed with brown trousers. His brown shoes are scuffed.
Tupolski, the interrogator, is played by David Mc Savage, a broad shouldered, extremely tall man, about 6ft 2ins, and in his mid fifties. His head is shaved and shiny on top but has black short hair on each side. He has a long face, and a hooked nose upon which his spectacles rest. His forehead wrinkles when he speaks. Tupolski is very smartly dressed in a three piece grey suit, a white shirt and a blue tie. A silver pocket watch peeps out from under his jacket.
The part of Ariel, the second policeman, is performed by Gary Lydon. His greasy black receding hair is threaded with grey and frames a rather fleshy full face. He is about 5ft 10ins, wears a blue shirt with a brown and a black tie hanging loosely under the collar. Striped braces support his black baggy trousers which cover a large protruding stomach. Ariel is also in his fifties.
Played by Michael Ford-Fitzgerald, Katurian’s brother Michal is two years older than Katurian and about the same height. Michal’s brown hair is thick, cut in a short back and side’s style. He thrusts his head and chin forward emphasising his thick lips and wide mouth. His arms and hands hang limply in front. His light brown cardigan is buttoned up over a beige shirt and tie. He wears grey trousers and scuffed brown shoes.
Jarlath Tivnan, Kate Murray, Peter Shine, Tara Finn and Rosa Makela share the roles of the parents, foster parents and children.
Katurian’s father in the first story is sharply dressed in a grey three piece suit, white shirt and black bow tie. His spectacles have thick black rims and his hair is black and receding.
His mother has black wavy hair, wears a red fitted knee length dress and walks around without shoes.
One of the story actors plays the seven year old Katurian wearing a pair of blue striped pyjamas. The same actor becomes Katurian aged 14. He is dressed in a black jacket over a beige cardigan and brown trousers. The little child lying on the bed in the adjacent room wears pink pyjamas and has short blonde hair.
In the second story the little girl is clothed in a calf length cream dress with puffed sleeves, a Peter Pan collar and a ribbon round her waist tied in a bow at the back. Her strapped shoes are cream. She has blonde frizzy hair arranged in two pigtails.
Her dark haired father has an open neck grey shirt tucked into dark trousers. He sports a dark moustache.
Her mother is dressed in a black and white flower patterned calf length skirt gathered at the waist.
The blind man has black hair, and wears a short black overcoat. He wears sun glasses and carries a white stick.
The foster father in the play story sports a black moustache, a black bowler hat, a black knee length coat featuring a fur collar, teamed with cream trousers tucked into black knee length boots.
The blond foster mother is attired in a black coat, small black hat with a feather, black high heels, black stockings and suspenders.
The actors in these story plays use a style of acting which involves miming the story in jerky, puppet like movements. The perfect timing of the actors’ lips in mouthing the words of their character, spoken by the storyteller causes laughter, especially when he speaks the female roles.
The Set
The stark set consists of a circular tower-like building cut in half vertically, completely open at the front, with the circular stone floor projecting from the interior out into the stage front. This takes up the centre third of the stage, which is black on either side.
The high curved tower walls are made of cracked rough grey concrete panels.
Scene One: In the police interrogation room, a high rectangular barred window is set into the left hand wall, below which is a recessed a square grey steel safe. At the right hand side, a concrete step leads up to a thick metal door, studded at the sides and across the middle, and with a barred grill at eye height, through which light streams.
This room has a solid square wooden table, set end on, centre, with three black tubular metal chairs, with red leatherette seats and backs, stained with white paint drips. One chair is to the left, near the wall, another is behind the table, and the third, in which the interrogator sits is to the right behind the table. On the table is a rectangular cardboard box file of papers. To the left a metal waste paper basket is on the floor.
Scene Two: The curved panel walls part to reveal two adjoining bedrooms, which are ten feet above, at the back of the set.
Initially, only the left bedroom is illuminated, the one on the right is completely dark.
The bedroom on the left has a low bed, with a sheet and thin cover. A mobile of animals is suspended above the bed. A white rocking horse sits on its end in the corner right.
The walls are pale grey, a tall white painted sash window takes up most of the rear wall, and there is a white wooden panelled door into the adjoining room.
The room on the right is dimly lit, making it difficult to discern the low wooden bed with grubby covers, against the grey right wall. Electric flexes, leads and plugs hang from the ceiling, and a tool kit and electric drill lie on the floor.
Scene Three: Michal’s cell is the same as the interrogation room in Scene One, with the only change being a door made of metal bars, through which light streams, set into the right wall. The circular cement floor protrudes from the cell to the front
There is no furniture, only a thin striped mattress pushed against the left wall, and grubby pillow at the end of the bed nearest the front of the cell.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
In the second half of the play, the walls part and an out door scene takes place on the raised area at the rear. The ground, covered in straw, has a pinky brown hue.
Later on, this space becomes a forest with the addition of trees in the background.
Surrounded by total darkness, these elevated spaces appear as if suspended in mid air.
PRODUCER : Gerry Barnes
DIRECTOR: Andrew Flynn
SET DESIGN: Owen MacCarthaigh
COMPOSER/SOUND DESIGN: Carl Kennedy
LIGHTING: Ciaran Bagnall
