19:30, Thu 22nd – Sat 24th November 2012 at Cripps Auditorium, Magdalene College
Michaelmas Week 7
In an unnamed totalitarian state, a writer of short stories - Katurian - finds himself implicated in a series of child murders, the deaths bearing an uncanny resemblance to the gruesome events of his literary works. His brother, Michal, mentally disabled and vulnerable, is being tortured for information in the next cell. As a duet of policemen - the sardonic Tupolski and volatile Ariel - interrogate them, information is revealed in teasing increments. Through the interrogation of the brothers and Katurian's twisted fairy-tales, the boundaries between reality and fantasy, fact and falsehood, begin to shift.
Winning the 2004 Olivier Award for Best New Play, with David Tennant and Jim Broadbent taking the leading roles at its première, 'The Pillowman' is both unnerving and provocative, stomach-churning and darkly humorous. "It's a puzzle without a solution."