“The Pillowman” Production Proposal

Page Count: 11 pages

A: Ideas and intentions

A1)
“The Pillowman” is a play written by the Irish-British playwright, Martin McDonagh, published
in Bruges in 2003 (McDonagh, 2003). It is a dark and disturbing piece in the style of
non-naturalism, which was written in the early stages of McDonagh’s writing career, when he
was composing fairy tales. He always found some darkness in the fairy tales from his childhood,
which inspired him to write plays of this style and genre (McDonagh, 1998). McDonagh intends
to reflect truth in his play, and enjoys incorporating the shock factor in them. In earlier years,
McDonagh felt anger towards and theatre and wanted more from it. (Crawley, 2016) “The anger
I had about certain aspects of British theatre coalesced into the kind of plays I wrote. They were
angry. Stuff would happen on stage. And I wasn’t really seeing that in British theatre”
(McDonagh, 2016).

“The Pillowman” tells the story of a writer named Katurian who’s captured by policemen after a
series of child murders that were identical to the content of his gruesome stories took place
(McDonagh, 2003). The play is set in an unnamed totalitarian state, but there’s no specified
geographical or sociocultural context in the play, other than it being set in the modern day
(Flynn, 2015).

The key themes prevalent in “The Pillowman” are the power of stories, the cycle of violence
and suffering. Rather than using the setting of the play to hold the story together, McDonagh
transcends the play’s sociocultural and physical surroundings through these themes (Flynn,
2015). McDonagh uses these recurring themes to question our role and responsibility in society
and question the positive and negative influences of art.

The power of stories is communicated through Katurian’s artistic choices, amoral stories and
the murders committed by Michal. Throughout the play, the audience sees that stories hold
meaning and importance to Katurian’s identity, but also the consequences he faces because of
his artistic choices. Stories have power and influence, whether it’s negative or positive. It affects
different people in different ways. For Katurian’s mentally damaged brother Michal the effect
was especially dangerous, leading to serious consequences (Sircus, 2009). Katurian clearly didn’t
intend for any inspiration or reenactment of the stories’ violence, but Michal took fiction and
turned it into reality because he believed in his brother’s stories so much. On another hand,
Katurian’s stories were powerful because it created an outlet for Katurian.
In this scene, the brothers are in a prison cell together and Michal confesses that he had
murdered those children. Katurian tells Michal the significance of his stories and how Michal
wasn’t supposed to interpret them as he did. The stories were a source of release and outlet for
the mental torture that Katurian went through. He needed to express it somewhere and he was
able to create something out of this pain and suffering which is why these stories meant so
much to him. Katurian doesn’t care if he’s killed, and he’s willing to die if it meant that his
stories could live, because his stories took on a higher purpose than his own life. His stories are
his legacy, something to “leave behind”. The audience is left wondering how stories have so
much power.

The cycle of violence recurs throughout the play, and is shown through Katurian’s murder of his
parents and brother, and the cruelty in each character and in his stories. In the play, Michal asks
Katurian to read him his favourite story, “The Pillowman”. The Pillowman is a supernatural
figure made of pillows whose job is to convince children who would grow up with a miserable
life to commit suicide, saving them from future suffering. This character demonstrates how
violence is an endless cycle, because although he was a compassionate figure, even violence
was required in order for him to be successful in preventing a future of suffering and further
violence.

In this scene, Katurian reads Michals his stories to comfort him in the prison cell, but then he
takes a pillow and suddenly kills Michal with it. The symbol of the pillow is initially used in
earlier parts of the play, when Katurian narrates how he killed his parents using a pillow,
foreshadowing the character of The Pillowman and how violence breeds more violence. In this
scene, the pillow symbolises that Katurian is Michal’s Pillowman, changing from being a visual
symbol of comfort to a murder weapon. This must’ve caused Katurian great pain because they
were so close, but he did so to save Michal, putting an end to Michal’s suffering. Yet, regardless
of the meaningful purpose, the cycle of violence continues. McDonagh also writes the role of
the Pillowman with juxtaposition and irony, as the character is soft, made of pillows and
baby-like, suggesting love, warmth and kindness, when in contrast, has a very sad mission.
Through this, McDonagh conveys that in reality, humanity is corrupt and that violence will
inevitably breed more violence.

The theme of suffering is highly prominent and is displayed through multiple aspects such as
Katurian’s stories, Katurian and Michal’s pasts, and Ariel’s past. The suffering of Katurian and
Michal are the most significant and consistent. Throughout this play, Katurian is verbally and
physically abused by the 2 policemen, Tupolski and Ariel despite being only a suspect. Katurian
and Michal suffered a traumatic childhood, where one was psychologically abused and the
other, physically tortured for an artistic experiment. For 7 years, Katurian was haunted by the
horrific sounds of drills and muffled screams from the room next door, where Michal - his
brother - suffered every day from the immense pain and torture by his parents. Katurian was led
to believe that it was all part of his imagination when it was a cruel experiment to groom the
talented writer he grew up to become.

In this scene, Katurian comforts Michal by telling him the stories he wrote, whilst they’re in the
prison cell together. After telling a few stories, Michal asks Katurian to tell him the story of “The
Pillowman”, saying that it’s his favourite. Michal finds comfort in Katurian’s stories and this
quote expresses how “The Pillowman” is a significant story to him. This reflects on Michal’s
experiences with suffering since the character of The Pillowman itself provides comfort in times
of suffering. Katurian expressed his own suffering through the symbol of The Pillowman, using
his creativity to manage his pain, and others’ pain too, like Michal’s. Michal’s love for The
Pillowman reflects how suffering is part of humanity but we all manage suffering in different
ways.

A2)
As the play displays, Katurian expresses his suffering through violence and art which Michal
reenacts because he believed in them so much. My theatre-maker intention is to ignite internal
debate and evoke critical reflection within the audience about the consequences of applying
fiction into reality (power of stories). I intend to deliver the message that suffering is part of
humanity and we have different ways of coping with it, but also question the audience where
the line is to be drawn when differentiating between art and reality . Additionally, I want to use
this piece to bring attention to how we live in a society where violence inevitably breeds more
violence (cycle of violence).
My intended target audiences are contemporary, educated and English-speaking adolescents
and adults. I chose this target audience because I believe that a more mature set of audience
would better understand the intended message of this play, and take something meaningful
away with them when they leave the theatre. Additionally, the themes I aim to display are less
suitable and appropriate for younger audiences because it involves violence. Although it’s
important for younger audiences to learn about the consequences of applying fiction to reality, I
think that they’re too young to understand the meaning of the violence presented in this play.

Whilst the production is in the style of non-naturalism, I intend for the performance and acting
to be in the style of realism in order to prevent my audience from thinking that the story is just
a play and that it wouldn’t happen in real life. This means that actors take on a realistic
approach in acting and accurately reflecting the human condition. They should deliver dialogue
as if it’s their first time speaking it, and have an emphasis on human behaviour, for example,
creating microexpressions and reactions, or expressing concentration when the character is
making a tough decision. For example in the scene where Katurian is about to kill Michal, he
could take a moment to stall, use a facial expression of concentration by biting his bottom lip
slightly, furrowing his eyebrows, focusing his eyes on Michal, then gaze at the murder weapon,
showing that he’s making a tough decision. Performance in the style of realism also details
characters' problems and challenges, resembling how humans act and react in the real world. A
non-naturalistic production allows me to creatively represent the abstract ideas of the play, also
allowing flexibility in the visualisation in Katurian’s stories. But it’s most important for the
audience to know that the power of stories, cycle of violence and suffering are indeed very
evident in our real world, which a realist performance will be able to support and address.

I intend to stage the play on a proscenium stage, where the

audience faces the stage front-on (Figure 1). Although the
performance style is realism, a proscenium stage reminds the
audience that they’re watching a story, which relates to the
recurring ideas of fiction and reality. Although the issues
addressed in the play closely reflect those in real life, I don’t
want them to follow the displayed cycle of violence, but
reflect on the relationship between fiction and reality, making
moral judgements before acting upon something as there will
always be consequences.

To create that “shock factor” McDonagh always looked for, I intend to incorporate some of
Antonin Artaud’s ideas and practices from “Theatre of Cruelty” which focuses on connecting
with the audience’s emotional response (beyond dialogue) by playing with sensation. The key
aim in this non-naturalistic form is to shock and confront the audience through aspects of
lighting, sound, gesture and image (British Library, 2017). I intend to involve violent silhouette
projections of Katurian’s stories, special effects like smoke and aromatic effects, piercing sound
effects, dramatic set design, and some bright stage lights to deliver the key themes and create a
shocking atmosphere.

B) The Proposed Design

Set and Props

There will be a different stage setup for each act
and no intermissions to prevent losing the action and prevent
the breaking of tension during the play. Since this is a dark and
disturbing piece, the appropriate colour palette will be dark
colours such as dark grey, black, dark blue and crimson (Figure
2).

Throughout the play, a collage of silhouette still images

will be projected onto the back wall (Figure 4), which was
inspired by a similar imagery from “Metamorphosis”
(Figure 3). It visualises all of Katurian’s stories, surrounding
young Michal in the centre, suffering under physical
torture. The large projections fill up the back wall, calling
significance, importance and power to Katurian stories.
Each story’s silhouette will individually come to life during
its own narration in Act 2, showing that Katurian’s stories
are a “living” and “breathing” part of his identity and
demonstrating violence and the power of stories.

The audience sees large, moving silhouettes instead of

actors performing, which enhances their auditory
senses and reliance on sound effects as their visuals are
limited. For example there will be nightarish sounds of hammering,
stabbing and flashing lights as the silhouttes of Michal’s torture comes
to life, allowing violent images seep into the minds of the audience.
This becomes more frightening and disturbing to the audience as it
stimulates their imagination of the worst thing possible to happen. Act
1 is set in the interrogation room, where there will be a desk and 3
chairs. The placement of Michal’s silhouette will be aligned
with Katurian on stage, symbolising how Michal’s physical
torture is also torture to Katurian.
Act 2 (Figure 6) is set in the prison cell where Michal is kept.
There will be a single small bed in the centre of the stage in
contrast to the large, bare room, conveying the feeling of
isolation and loneliness, and evoking a sense of eeriness within
the audience, contributing to the darkness of this play. There will
be a pillow on the bed, which Katurian uses to end Michal’s life.
Suffering and violence took place in both childhood bedrooms,
and the bedroom was where Katurian’s stories began. Therefore,
the pillow is a significant prop because it was a place of comfort,
but also where suffering and violence happened. Additionally, it
symbolises The Pillowman, whose purpose is to save souls from
suffering but in reality, participates in the cycle of violence.
This parallels to the murder of Michal as Katurian kills him in
order to end his suffering.

In Act 3, the set pieces for the interrogation room will be on stage right.
On stage left will be book pages scattered all around Michal's childhood
bed, showing Michal’s love for Katurian’s stories (Figure 8). In the final
scene of the play, Katurian is executed from a gunshot to the head, but
continues narrating a vision where The Pillowman saves Michal from
leading a life of suffering and violence before all the torture began.
During this moment, pages will start flipping on the projection at the
back wall as the silhouettes ascend, showing that he leaves a
powerful part of his identity behind - his stories. The rising
visualisation of the stories also convey that Katurian’s
suffering was a weight that is lifted. The projection will flip
to a blank page, symbolising that his suffering has been
released.

Lighting and Special Effects

Throughout the production, the stage will generally never
be fully lit up in order to maintain the dark and disturbing
atmosphere.In Act 1, there will be white spotlighting produced by
profile lights, casted on the police interrogation on stage centre.
Profile lights will be used as it creates harder edges which isolates
Katurian and the 2 policemen, creating a more dramatic
atmosphere and dark tone from the contrast between the spotlight
and the rest of the stage. The downlight creates a shadow effect on
the lower half of the characters which evokes feelings of
vulnerability and insecurity as you can’t fully
see the policemen (Figure 11). Meanwhile,
Katurian will be lit by a high intensity low
frontal light (Figure 10), as interrogations
make use of harsh lighting to confront the
suspect. The bright low frontal light shocks
the sense of sight, an element of Theatre of
Cruelty. Katurian is completely exposed and
the audience is able to see Katurian very
clearly, unlike the 2 policemen who will be
darker (Figure 11) due to being lit up only
by the spotlight. The lighting will gradually
transition to a red tone as Katurian narrates the traumatic part of his childhood,
symbolising violence, sacrifice and blood, giving the audience a sense of danger.

For Act 2, there will be a backlight behind the rectangular box with jail bars that’s
at the top of the back wall (Figure 12). The backlight casts looming shadows of
the bars onto the floor of the stage, trapping the characters in a large, empty
room. There will also be a low intensity light coming from stage left, to create a
dim and unsettling atmosphere, illuminating Michal and Katurian.

In Act 3, a smoke machine will be used to release a low intensity of smoke (mild),
creating a dream-like, hazy atmosphere on stage left where The Pillowman takes little
Michal away. A yellow, mild intensity down light created by a profile light will be used
to illuminate young Michal at his bed (Figure 13). The lighting’s soft edges and its
yellow glow outlining the characters creates a sense of holiness and surrealness,
contributing to the dream-like atmosphere and making the scene look more like a
vision which differentiates the action from the action in the present time. At the end
of the play when his stories rise, all the yellow lighting will turn into bright white
lighting in order to bring the play to an ending. The white blankness represents how
although Katurian was wrongly killed, his suffering ended and he
received proper closure as his stories were able to live on in peace.
This gives a sense of bittersweetness and completion to the play.

Sound and Music

As I’ll be incorporating production elements of Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty, sound effects in this
production will generally be loud, sudden and piercing in order to “assault” the audience’s
auditory senses. For example, there will be sounds of chainsaws, drilling, loud and heavy
thumps for the scene where Katurian narrates Michal’s torture. In order to shock the audience
and make them feel uncomfortable and disturbed, sounds with higher frequency will be utilised
as they’re sharp and piercing, which are unpleasant to the ear. Sound effects will be recorded
and played unexpectedly through random speakers scattered throughout the audience in order
to frighten them. I will use music in minor-key during dramatic moments of the play to evoke a
sorrowful response from the audience, and to further express Katurian and Michal’s suffering.
According to neuroscientists, music in minor-key has a similar acoustic frequency with subdued
speech. There is an emotional association between minor-key music and dark, melancholic,
depressive tones, which will allow the audience to better
connect with the play (Ball, 2010).

Costume
To maintain a serious tone to the play, the characters will
wear predominantly mute and dark tones, such as dark
green, dark brown, dark blue and black (Figure 14). As
Katurian is a writer, he would wear something more
sophisticated and intellectual. His smart-casual wear
would include black suspenders, brown half-sleeved dress
shirt, striped white trousers and black boat shoes. Michal
would wear a brown sweater with a dark green and
yellow wool vest, cuffed brown shorts, bright yellow
socks and black sneakers, resembling how a child
would dress as Michal acts like one. The 2 policemen
would wear formal-clothing which resembles an authoritative uniform such as a button up
T-shirt, dress shirt, suit jacket, necktie, dark trousers and black boots. The uniform tells the
audience that they have authority and power, especially because they both carry a gun. To
show time passing and the policemen getting more comfortable with questioning Katurian in
the interrogation room, their costume can become less neat. For example, Tupolski could take
off his suit jacket, Ariel’s shirt could be unbuttoned at the top, and both of their ties could be
out of place. In contrast, Katurian is more stressed, nervous and on his feet because he’s being
confronted by authorities. Hence, his costumes would remain neat and proper.

C) The proposed staging of one moment of the play

The moment of the play that I have selected to stage is Michal’s death in the prison cell (Act 2,
Scene 1). This part of the scene is a very dramatic moment of the play because it shows the
intense emotional connection between the two brothers, and Katurian’s sacrifice in order for
Michal and Katurian’s stories to be at peace. This scene draws the key themes of the play
together as we look at a difficult decision Katurian must make. In this scene, Katurian is sitting
with Michal in a prison cell, reading Michal some of the stories he had written as Michal starts
to fall asleep. Earlier, Michal had confessed that he was guilty of committing the murders that
Katurian has been suspected of. Katurian decides to take Michal’s life by suffocating him with a
pillow because he knows that Michal would continue leading a life full of misery and suffering. I
selected this moment in the play because it’s tense, emotional and significantly meaningful. It
highlights the key themes of suffering, the cycle of violence and the power of stories, supporting
my intentions.

The set and lighting for this moment of the play was explained in “The Proposed Design”.
There will be sounds in an echo effect, such as water dripping from a tap in the distance,
creating an unsettling and cold atmosphere which enhances the audience’s experience in being
trapped in the dark space. As explained, looming shadows of the jail bars would be casted on
the prison floor by the backlight which means that Katurian and Michal are trapped in a cycle of
violence and suffering. In the beginning of this scene, Michal is lying on Katurian’s lap, lying on
his side and facing the audience. Katurian reads Michal’s favourite story to him, similarly to how
a father would read bedtime stories to his son before bed. Katurian should have a light-hearted
tone where his voice is soft, higher pitched and slow paced to portray emotions of love and
compassion. He would also have a lot of dynamic intonations when reading the stories, like he’s
reading to a child because of Michal’s learning disabilities. In order to show the close
relationship between them, Katurian wou caress Michal, holding him like a child and making
intimate gestures such as running his fingers through Michal’s hair and gently stroking him. It’s
pleasant to watch the bond between the brothers, but tension is created because the audience
would have a sense of uncertainty, feeling that something isn’t right due to the ominous
atmosphere implied by the dim lighting. During the lines of “No little toes in it… no razor
blades in it.” (McDonagh 67), Katurian would use a serious tone with a shaky voice to express
emotions of fear and vulnerability when he realises the power that his stories had on his
brother. At this moment, he starts to be afraid of his brother’s capabilities because of how
brutal the murders were. Regardless, Katurian still loves Michal and would do anything to
defend him, so when he says “It’s not your fault”, his tone should be direct and regretful, with
emphasis on every single word. He can also shake it head in dissatisfaction, with his eyebrows
furrowed, cheeks scrunched up and lips frowning to facial express emotions of sadness and
loneliness during this moment of suffering where he realises what he has to do. After the next
line, Katurian will hold his breath, close his eyes, furrow his eyebrows and put their heads
together, embracing him tightly to build dramatic tension in the escalating rush of sorrow and
distraught emotions as he decides to let go of his loved one. As Katurian breaks away from
Michal, releasing his breath and slowly letting him onto the floor, dark and ominous minor-key
music will start playing in a crescendo to build up tension.

All the projections on the back wall except The Pillowman would start fading as Katurian takes
the pillow from the bed and kneel by Michal. There would be a low frontal light to cast a large
shadow of Katurian onto the blank back wall, where The Pillowman would walk and align into
whilst Katurian takes a moment to contemplate what he’s about to do. This symbolises that
Katurian is Michal’s Pillowman and represents how reality is merging with fiction. Katurian
would show concentration by furrowing his eyebrows, expressing how challenging it is for him
to make the decision to end Michal’s suffering. He
would Michal sleeping on the floor and then glance
at the pillow he’s holding in one hand before
clenching the pillow tightly and raising it above his
head, ready to push it onto Michal but then stop to
think twice. At this moment of hesitation, the music
will be hung in silence, creating suspense and
tension within the audience, because they don’t
know whether Katurian is actually going to kill him.
Suddenly, there will be a loud, powerful and heavy
bass drop as Katurian forcefully pushes the pillow
onto Michal’s face. The dramatic weight of the
sombre music emphasises and enhances the
power and strength needed for Katurian to
kill him. The intense music contributes to the heavy atmosphere and thriller, frightening and
shocking the audience (as intended) as it contrasts with the tender moment in the beginning,
going from loving to killing. As Katurian is suffocating Michal, there will be a struggle between
the both of them to show the emotions of pain, building more tension as the audience doesn’t
know if Michal will live. Red will start to seap upwards into the projection (Figure 15),
resembling Michal being slowly submerged in his blood and conveying the meaning of danger,
death and sacrifice, highlighting violence and Michal’s final suffering. As Katurian struggles to
hold the pillow down, he would cry and yell in a loud voice to express the emotions of agony
and anger because in order to save Michal from further suffering, he had to kill him,
contributing to the cycle of violence. In reaction, there would be muffled, loud and high pitch
screams / noises from Michal, produced with a lot of effort to show urgency and pain. He could
jerk and make sudden jolts, grip onto the pillow with tense hands and clang the floor with the
side of his fist to struggle against Michal.

After Michal’s death, Katurian would kneel beside him and take a moment to process what he’d
just done. He would gaze at his two hands, point his eyebrows upwards, bulge eyes and breathe
heavily. As he kneels, he would say “Detective?” in a quiet but trembling tone, showing the
emotion of fear, then making an urgent and frantic gait, rushing towards downstage centre. As
he makes a confession, a high intensity frontal light will illuminate him, creating a
confrontational atmosphere and giving the meaning that Katurian is now exposed in a
vulnerable position, no longer “concealed” in the prison cell. The music would continue playing
to allow Katurian to compete in volume and demonstrate emotions of desperation.

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