Once described as having a name more Irish than the man, Martin McDonagh usually sets his plays in Ireland (The Leenane Trilogy, The Lieutenant of Inishmore…) but they never conform to the Ballykissangel, Bing Crosby, When Irish eyes are smiling Irish whimsy so often offered up on the stage or screen. Instead he strips back the overlay of green fantasy and reveals a far more vicious and dysfunctional narrative about the emerald isle – but one that is always counter balanced with a dark, gallows humour.
The Pillowman, originally presented at the NT in 2003 follows the same twisted thread of terror and comedy but is set outside Ireland in a mythical authoritarian Kafkaesque state.

In-yer-face theatre rarely comes more shocking than this but, surprisingly, by the end McDonagh reveals himself to have a sentimental side. It takes some time for this to become apparent and a number of members of the audience with weaker stomachs failed to make it past the interval.
Katurian Katurian Katurian – not a misprint – is a writer of jet-black fairy tales that make the Grimm’s seem like Enid Blyton. All of his 400 works bar one are about children that get abused and killed and it is no surprise to learn that he and his spastic brother have suffered terribly at their parents’ hands.
When KKK’s stories start to be re-enacted in real life, he and his brother Michal are hauled in for brutal interrogation by two policemen who write their own laws. They also have a hilarious line in interrogation which leaves those with a dark sense of humour doubled up with laughter.
It doesn’t take too long to discover who is the perpetrator of the crimes. Then the real horrors in the lives of all four of the principal characters begin to emerge with gut-wrenching clarity.
Just when all seems too awful to be depicted on stage, McDonagh cleverly twists the tail of the play with great dramatic effect.
The Pillowman is extremely funny and has hidden depths that will leave the amateur psychologists in the audience with much food for thought.

Tickets are £8.50 for members and £10 for non members. Please leave a message on 01293 781059 or e mail membership@archwaytheatre.co.uk giving your phone number if you would like to book seats.

You’ve guessed it – “Page Eight” (BBC2 28/08/11) another glossy drama of beautiful people in NW1 (and weekend rural retreats) pumping out a subliminal version of the eternal and unchanging BBC philippic against capitalism, America (pre Obama, of course) and those vicious, conniving Je…whoops….Israelis.

Written by Richard Curtis David Hare, the storyline is as predictable as a Tom & Jerry cartoon. Public School/Oxbridge educated MI5 boss hands Public School/Oxbridge educated MI5 agent (Nighy) a file fingering UK PM as the The Evil One Covering Up US Rendition. Said agent discovers his next door neighbour had a boy friend killed by Israeli soldiers while innocently protecting defenceless Hamas protestors. This has also been covered up by the same UK PM.

Usual ending of any Nighy drama….he forces UK PM to publish the truth about the evil Israelis in return for remaining schtum about rendition. Nighy then heads off into the sunset until the next BBC drama.

Production values – AAA+
Characterisation – pure unadulterated cardboard
Message – BBC Goebbels TV at its most blatant