THE PILLOWMAN ( Sat. 8/20 Matinee)

I have stared at this entry form to write this review for quite a while now, trying to find words to give this soaring production of a stunning drama the dedication it so justly deserves. And this is as well I can manage, so bear with me.

How DOUBT won the Tony over this breathtaking drama, I have no idea.

After finally convincing myself to go, I picked up a ticket at the TKTS booth and sat down for three of the most intense hours I have spent in a theater besides those I spent at 'Caroline, or Change' last year. McDonagh first chilled me to the bone after I finished my first adventure of reading The Beauty Queen of Leenane - a stunning battle between mother and daughter that still haunts me over a year after first reading it. However, I've been dreading venturing to THE PILLOWMAN, knowing that it would probably be an emotional rollercoaster.

My assumption was correct. I bumped into WithoutATrace (another BWW member here on our wonderful boards who had seen the show as well) at the stagedoor following the show and stammered about absolutely sick to my stomach I was. Yes, the subject matter (brutal child murder) is sickening. But that wasn't the problem. The play was so chilling, so eerie, so grim, so absolutely, incredibly, amazingly haunting that my stomach was twisted into knots from the fact that I was so DISTRAUGHT that I couldn't even find the tears or words to express what I was feeling. A day later, I'm still having trouble expressing the 2 hours and 45 minutes of sheer brilliance.

The performances - how can I pick one above the others? There is not a SINGLE weak link in this production. The cast from Goldblum to Crudup to Struhlbarg is absolutely stunning.

The lighting - where do I begin?

Sets - must I repeat myself?

I could go on. But I can't find the words to praise this.

Just go. Go before this closes. Live this. Breathe this. Experience this for yourself and find yourself at the loss for words that I am still at 24+ hours later.

You will not regret this life-altering, breathtaking well-spent 25-100 dollars. TRUST ME.

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Great review! I felt the same way after I saw it. I really have to see it again. What a horrible shame that it's closing, I just don't understand why they have to take this show away from us. Everything about The Pillowman is stunning, that's it. No need to complicate it, it's just pure brilliance.

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I agree 100%. It is a wonderful production, and it would be a shame for anybody to miss it.

Wonderful review!

I'm seeing this tomorrow and I absolutely cannot wait.

I wish I wasn't LITERALLY too scared to go see this.

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Have to agree with Barihunk on this one...PILLOWMAN was a real snoozer for me. If it werent for the gross moments in act 1 - i would have fallen asleep (talk about LONG, BORING and going in circles!) I understand 100% why DOUBT won the Tony - it most certainly deserved it!

BTW--how does "sick" apply as a critical analysis?

I thought it was brilliant and haunting. And it was kind of a relief to find that at least one Irish playwright can write about something other that the tragicomic futility of Irish life (yeah, it's a great subject, but...sorry, still suffering from a Friel overdose).

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As being somebody who has seen both, Pillowman two saturdays ago and doubt last wednesday, I clearly saw why doubt one. Tonys usually lean towards favoring more traditional play text, pillowman is very edgy. However i loved them both. I loved the scripts, I bought doubt and pillowman wasnt there but i 100% intend on buying it and I instantly fell in love with the characters in both. I would have given both shows a tony, but doubt was slightly more mentally enthralling. But pillowman had such incredible sets that spoke so much from the mood. Both shows are stunning, best plays I have ever encountered. Better than Miller in my opinion, My opinion, I expect to get comments from that

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gymman, I did see your other recommendations and enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed 'Woolf'. However, I still don't "get" DOUBT. It just didn't do it for me.

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Can we PLEASE stop with the "Doubt robbed Pillowman of the Tony" talk? Please? Pillowman is breathtaking, yes, but that has a lot to do with the staging, the directing and the acting. Act Two of Pillowman goes nowhere for quite some time and all of it seems superfluous until *STOP READING RIGHT NOW IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT* the young girl painted green turns up. And that's quite towards the end of the play. Doubt is a drum tight drama where not one word is wasted and where the outcome is open to many different interpretations. What's more, in its entirety, Doubt runs 5 minutes shorter than the first act of Pillowman. That doesn't mean one play is better than the other, I just thought I'd share.

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Gym,

I guess the show went over your head. While Doubt is a simple, very well-done show about the nature of doubt, Pillowman is about a hundred different and conflicting things. It is non-traditional in it's approach to the stage, the acting style lives somewhere between realism and superficiality, and the text is tremendously difficult for actors. But, the show is about the life of art, the process of change, the appropriation of grief and punishment, the populist state, and dozens of other subjects -- it is the definition of social commentary.

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I have to say, my least favorite riposte when you point out that something is flawed is that "it went over your head". And then you go and say that Doubt is simple. Dear oh dear.

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