THE PILLOW MAN
There is no doubting the ambition of BHOS (Brighton & Hove Operatic Society), far from it, and deciding to take on Martin McDonagh’s award winning and controversial play sees them once again in fearless mode. The Pillowman is not easy, either for the audience or the cast. It confronts both with issues of morality in a way that is uneasy and distressing. You have to wonder what impact playing these four roles might have on the actors involved, as audience I found it difficult to sleep after seeing the show, so can they? Or does the discipline of their art make it easier for them to divorce themselves from the content?
I use the word art here, firstly because this is a fine display of the art of acting and of direction. Once more I find myself in awe at the standards being displayed by a local community theatre company (and avoiding once more using the “A” word). I will come to artistry again later. Director Louis Craig has cast a group of four very very talented players here, all delivering very fine performances of a script that takes challenging to extraordinary heights. In the original the role of Katurian is defined as male but here we have the part played by a female. In the structure of the work the gender of that role is laden with the idea that such a person, doing what they have done and doing what they do is perhaps tied to a toxic masculinity. Changing it to a woman throws up so many conflicting feelings as the story unfolds. From the very start Melissa Paris is utterly convincing and equally believable in a demanding but stellar performance. This is exactly why I love community theatre.
Frank Leon’s depiction of the brutal and sadistic Ariel is so very disturbing and so very real, and it is relentlessly so. This is a damaged soul displaying anger with such clarity, every flaw, whilst so so hideous, is also so understandable. Quite terrifying, and rightly so.
Nathan Potter plays Michal with a gentle charm and softness, his truths gradually revealed and done so without ever resorting to stereotypes so often displayed in depictions of neurodivergence. It works to great effect as the story unfolds.
Scott Roberts is Tupolski. Tupolski is the the definition of reason and arrogance being used together in a game of power. This is a man so confident in his position as arbiter of justice that he is chillingly believable. Every word is delivered with nuanced menace, every gesture and every twist of tone showing that whist he declares that he is good cop to Ariel’s bad cop, nothing could be further from the reality.
The Pillowman explores so many themes, of power, of evil, of nature against nurture, of sibling love and at the very heart it is surely about the difference between writing fiction of a sadistic kind and actually being capable in reality of committing such acts.
I mentioned earlier that I would comeback to artistry and in this production we see so much. A very finely conceived and executed set works so well for it’s simplicity. Added to this we have projections. I very much liked the filming of Pelham Puppets in the telling of the story of the girl who thinks she is Jesus. It works extremely well, cushioning the grim tale is a cosy world of childhood play. In the first half the same task was given to animations, which whilst being very well executed bared the tell tale look of being created using AI. I am no fan of artificial intelligence, in my mind computer wizardry that, when charged with a task, then plunders existing artworks is little more than theft. Forgive me of course if some very clever animator produced these interludes from scratch, but I very much doubt it. The puppets, full marks, this… well once again AI left me cold. This is of course a very personal view and in conversation after the show people were less bothered by it then I was.
BHOS once again pull off another gem. It’s not a play that think I will ever want to see again but I am glad that I have seen it in such a very good production. Did I manage to sleep after? Fitfully!
Andrew Kay
21 March
The BHOS Community Hub
Rating:
