I've seen Doubt and The Pillowman, and think that both are excellent plays. They are also as different as night and day. I find the Tony discussion fruitless; Doubt won, and there's nothing that anyone can do about it.
I'm happy that others like The Pillowman as much as I did. I really think it is the best play on Broadway in some time. I understand that they cannot continue with the original cast, and are closing instead of finding replacements. While I think everyone but Jeef Goldblum is perfect in their roles, I wish they had tried to find some talented actors to extend this fantastic piece.
I'd also like to say that Doubt is also an very good play that features exceptional performances. I'm kind of surprised that so many people posting here like one and hate the other. I'm greatful to have multiple intelligent new plays being produced in the same season.
Pillowman was very much a socio-political commentary about violence (and its effects on the public), censorship, existentialism, and the effects of totalitarian control (in society, family and art). To say it is glib and superficial is to not have thought about the situations and imagery in the play. It's themes are not as easily spelled out as with a realistic play such as Doubt. It requires some thought and interpretation. You can't simply take it at face value. It reminds me of Brecht meets Durang meets Beckett. A beautiful balance of commentary and satire through story-telling.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
"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. "
How utterly patronizing. The show might want to be about all those things, but the play on view sure as hell ain't. Having written a Ph.D. dissertation on contemporary British and American drama, I can see how derivative the play is 0f, among others, Beckett, Pinter,Ionesco, and Sam Shepard. The fact the the play may want to be about big ideas does not mean that it is about big ideas.
There is NOTHING "simple" (another patronizing comment)about Doubt. Great plays just sometimes LOOK simple.
BTW--it may have gone over your head, but "it's" is a contraction meaning "it is." You mean "its" possessive.
