Pillow Talk

Was anyone else visited by the Pillowman an hour before last weeks' exam?



Definitely an interesting, twisted, sick, awesome play. Seems like is more of a novel or a collection of short stories, but I guess I can see it being kind of unique on a stage. The stories themselves are great. You know a story is good when none of the characters have a name, the plot is simple, it begins with One Upon a time, and its still a powerful story. It reminds me a lot of O. Henry stories like Gift of the Magi. The blind man tripping over the grave in The Little Jesus and Turloski's story of the deaf boy on the train tracks especially. Frank Stockton's short story The Lady or the Tiger came to mind when reading the story about the guy hanging in the Gibbett. The stories are pretty formulaic and in many ways not that original in terms of the concepts. I think I've heard similar versions of the Little Green Pig story in many formats - the best perhaps being The Sneetches by Dr. Suess.

I have a lot of random thoughts about this play, and am at a loss of how to organize them so here ya go:

Both Michal (p.52) and Katurian (p. 103) claim they are the Pillowman. Who really is? Either of them? Is there any other significance to the title of the play? There is even a discussion of what makes a good title at one point.

Is Katurian a little too close to Kevorkian for anyone else?

I love the humor in this play - between brothers, between the detectives, there are these great, hilarious lines that come at just the right time - not easy to crack jokes in the midst of murdering children, but McDonagh does it very, very well. Sometimes though, Michal's humor is so witty and insightful that it made me sceptical of his supposedly diminished mental capacities - I'm not sure if I completely buy what the author is giving us - there seem to be some inconsistencies in his mental abilities.

Is there any significance to having a deaf boy and a mute girl in the stories? Other than it being part of a formula of fatally flawed characters?

There is a lot more I want to say, but I am off to a meeting in the Bronx, I will try to get the rest up before class...

BS