#1
Posted: 8/4/23 at 6:01pm
Anyone going? Interesting casting and excited to see Alison Pill, and this show, on stage again even if it’s only a reading.
Williamstown Theater Festival: Pillowman
#2
Posted: 8/4/23 at 6:53pm
I loved this play when I saw it, but there are some plays that disturb me so much that, as much as I am glad I saw them, I never have to see them again. This is one of those plays. Tracey Lett's "Bug" is another.
#3
Posted: 8/4/23 at 8:55pm
Speaking of, there’s a West End production right now produced by Empire Street Productions - the same company who brought Prima Facie to NYC.
#4
Posted: 8/5/23 at 4:15pm
and the West End production is not good (imo and several others - pop on over to Theatreboard for more)
only 32 people have voted in the show poll with the following results:
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1 vote (3.13%)
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8 votes (25.00%)
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15 votes (46.88%)
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4 votes (12.50%)
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4 votes (12.50%)
#5
Posted: 8/5/23 at 4:35pm
I was very much looking forward to the London production but decided on waiting on reviews…I’m glad I did and decided against the trip as a result. This is my local substitute being just 2 hours away from home. That Alison Pill, who knows her way around a Mcdonagh play, was cast as Katurian is a very welcome surprise!
#6
Posted: 8/5/23 at 4:58pm
She's no Lily Allen, that's for sure! Note: I was very excited to see this on our London visit - we even booked months ahead. I didn't think Allen was terrible in the part - but she had two notes - on the edge of hysteria and completely non-emotional flat story telling. Presumably, that is how she was directed. I apologized to my spouse for taking her to The Pillowman. She didn't like it either - but was less harsh than I was.
#7
Posted: 8/6/23 at 2:57pm
The Pillowman is one of my favorite plays. Strange that it never ran in the West End til now. Some of the reviews are indeed pretty bad though, and the general consensus seems to be that Lily Allen just wasn’t up to the task of such a demanding role.
The Williamstown staged reading seems interesting, with both Katurian and Tupolski played by women. I think that if you are going to have Katurian played by a woman, you kind of have to have Tupolski be a woman too, otherwise it would be hard to laugh at Tupolski’s (darkly) comic bits. Maybe that’s part of the reason why this London production evidently didn’t really work.
#8
Posted: 8/7/23 at 8:22am
Like you DB, this too is one of my favorite plays. It’s such a testament to this amazing play that it can stand up to a reading without any of the spectacular staging elements of the National or Broadway production - and also to some uneven acting. I saw this five (six?) times on Broadway so visualizing a full production was not difficult but my husband who had never seen this play was utterly impressed by it as well.
I wondered if some of the language (numerous usages of the R-word in particular) might no longer work in our current culture, but its usage only hardened the totalitarian world Katurian inhabits.
The setting was quite traditional reading with occasional blocking around music stands. Small props were occasionally effectively utilized as well.
Alison Pill is ready to take on Katurian in a full production now. The gender swap was only used in casting (the usage of Katurian’s pronouns remained male). Pill easily segued from her role as prisoner to that of storyteller and her empathy for Michael and her stories was palatable. I could only imagine what she would do with this after a few weeks of rehearsal and blocking.
My only reservation about the reading was that a good portion of the humor was lost. Not to knock the actress that played Tupolski, but she didn’t deliver much of the dry wit that Jeff Goldblum brought to the Broadway run. This too I’m sure would improve with a few weeks of rehearsals though.
As great as this reading was, I can’t wait for a new revival on Broadway ASAP.
#9
Posted: 8/7/23 at 8:25am
For those who saw the London production, could you please describe how the stories are presented (and probably hide it as a spoiler)?
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