‘Pillowman’ is searing theater not to be missed

By IRIS FANGER
For The Patriot Ledger
There’s no warning pasted on the doors of the Arsenal Center for the Arts for audiences coming to New Rep’s 22nd season opener, ‘‘The Pillowman,’’ by Irish-born playwright, Martin McDonagh, but perhaps viewers should be warned. Despite winning London’s 2004 Olivier Award for Best New Play and two Tony Awards after its New York premiere in 2005, the corrosive ‘‘comedy’’ might warrant posters such as ‘‘Danger’’ or ‘‘Enter At Your Own Risk.’’

That said, ‘‘The Pillowman,’’ which takes on deep-seated human horrors like child abuse and murder, plus irrational punishment for crimes never committed, and makes four-letter words standard usage, is one of the most engrossing and searing evenings of theater in recent memory. And, believe it or not, much of the dialogue is also funny.

The premise is a simple one: Katurian, a writer of mostly unpublished stories, has been brought into the police station for questioning, but he doesn’t know why. The action takes place in several jail cells, where he and his mentally disabled brother, Michael, are questioned and tortured, without benefit of judge, jury or due process. We are never given a specific country or time frame in which these totalitarian dictatorship practices flourish, but given our history - Saddam’s Iraq? Taliban Afghanistan? Mao’s China? Nazi Germany? the CIA secret prisons? - plenty of possibilities come to mind.

McDonagh, author of ‘‘The Beauty Queen of Leenane,’’ among other plays, is a craftsman of the theater who believes in the most basic foundation of the art form - storytelling - as his method of choice to unravel the tale. Most of Katurian’s stories describe the murders of different children by various means and the cops have hauled him in because his works seemed to have served as blueprints for three recent killings. When he realizes the inevitable outcome, whether he protests his treatment or cooperates, he becomes desperate to protect his work. To him, his writing is more important than his life or the life of the brother he has cared for. He’s willing to sacrifice both to preserve his stories.

Each of the principal characters has his own story to tell: Katurian and Michael, Tupolski and Ariel, the cops who interrogate them in traditional good-cop-bad-cop manner. As backdrop, four other actors on stage, including two children, perform incidents from Katurian’s writings in dumb show on a stage elevated behind the jail cells. John Howell Hood’s scenic design includes a huge mirror covering the top half of the back wall that reflects the audience seated out front, incorporating the viewers as witnesses to the events. The starkness of the setting, combined with the subject matter and the bright, white lights over the stage, designed by John Malinowski, add a complexity of visual images to the frightening disclosures.

Under the sharp and brutal direction of Rick Lombardo, one of Boston’s most skillful acting coaches, Cohasset native John Kuntz as Katurian, Steven Barkhimer as Tupolski, Phillip Patrone as Ariel, and Bradley Thoennes in the role of Michael, turn in an ensemble performance deserving of a collective award. Kuntz is a particular marvel, at once defensive and terrified, but caring of his brother and crafty about his desires once he realizes the hopelessness of his situation. He’s all the more to be cherished in this finely honed characterization because we’ve watched him develop from a stand-up comic to gifted actor on a variety of our local stages. Barkhimer is skilled at turning on a dime, from angry to clownish, enemy to sympathetic comrade, embellishing his performance with hilarious facial expressions and gestures. Patrone, absent from the local theater scene for five years, returns in a virtuoso performance of a quick-on-the-trigger cop with secrets of his own. Thoennes, a newcomer, creates a detailed, heart-breaking characterization of a mentally-unstable but endearing man who doesn’t quite understand the error of his ways - or does he? ‘‘The Pillowman’’ is not an entertainment choice for anyone looking for a diversion for a Saturday night, or an easy three hours to blot out the woes of the world. However, for those of us who consider the theater not only one of the lively arts, but also one that is relevant to modern times, the play in its stellar local premiere production by New Rep is an experience not to be missed.