Max Simone Show Proposal

The Pillowman

Fall 2012

The Pillowman
By Martin McDonough
The play takes place in an unnamed totalitarian state. Katurian, a writer of grisly short stories
often showing violence against children, has been arrested by two detectives, Ariel and Tupolski,
because some of his stories resemble recent child murders. When he hears that his mentally
impaired brother Michal has confessed to the murders and implicated Katurian, he resigns
himself to his execution but attempts to save his stories from destruction. The play includes both
narrations and reenactments of several of Katurian's stories, most notably the autobiographical
"The Writer and the Writer's Brother", which tells how Katurian developed his disturbed
imagination by hearing the sounds of Michal being tortured by their parents.
In addition to the four main roles, the cast also includes The Family: A set of three males and
two females who act out the stories depicted in the play, including the titular Pillowman.
While non-speaking, this production will emphasize their involvement and require them to do
rather rash and disturbing things. Its possible these are the most fun parts in the show with the
amount of stuff they get to do in this iteration.
KATURIAN
(A writer of gruesome short stories often involving children. His disturbed imagination was the
result of having heard his brother being abused when they were younger. Consequently he killed
his parents and looked after his brother. He is shocked by his arrest. Im looking for someone
with a backbone despite being constantly brutalized. Through the beginning he believes he has
done no wrong and throughout the entirety he is willing to sacrifice himself to prevent the
destruction of his stories. At this point of the interrogation he has just been told that his brother
has been captured and is in an interrogation room with a torturous interrogator. Slowly but
surely his adrenaline starts to fight his fear)
TUPOLSKI: You seem a little scared.
KATURIAN: I am a little scared.
TUPOLSKI: What are you scared about?
KATURIAN: Im scared my brother is all alone in a strange place, and Im scared your friend is
gonna go kick the shit out of him, and Im scared hes gonna come kick the shit out of me again
although if he does its okay, I mean Id rather he didnt but if theres something in these stories
you dont like then go ahead and take it out on me, but my brother gets frightened easily, and he
doesnt understand these things and hes got nothing to do with these stories anyway, Ive only
ever read them to him, so I just think its completely unfair you brought him down here and I
think you should just fucking go and fucking let him out of here right now! Right fucking now!

Max Simone Show Proposal

The Pillowman

Fall 2012

MICHAL
(Katurian's brother, who is "slow to get things" following his years of abuse at the hands of his
parents. He is also taken into jail along with Katurian. (I AM NOT LOOKING FOR A
TYPICAL MENTALLY CHALLENGED PERFORMANCE OF THIS CHARACTER. Michal
is not Rain Man or Forrest Gump. There is something obviously wrong with his judgment but its
very subtle and comes out in flashes of behavior and speech. At this point Michal has been told
by the interrogator to scream every once and a while to give Katurian the illusion that he is being
tortured. Throughout it he tries to remember one of his favorite stories by Katurian)
MICHAL: Once upon a time a long long way away (Katurian Screams, Michal mimics it
at length, till they fade away) Once upon a time, a long long way away, there was a little green
pig. There was a little green pig. Who was green. Um (Katurian screams again, Michal
screams as well until it fades) Once upon a time, a long long way away, there was a little green
pig Or was it a long long way away? Where was it? (pause) Yes, it was a long long way
away, and he was a little green pig (Katurian screams and Michal mimics again, irritated this
time) Oh shut up, Katurian! Making me forget the little green pig story now with your
screaming all over the place! (Pause) And what did the little green pig do next? He he said to
the man He said to the man, HelloMan (Katurian screams, Michal just listens this time)
Ah, I cant do stories like you do stories, anyway. I wish theyd hurry up and stop torturing ya.
Im bored. Its boring in here.
TUPOLSKI
(The lead detective and the "good cop" in the interrogation. Cold and uncaring, he sees himself
as detached from the people he aims to save, shocking his younger partner Ariel. There is a cold
tactful side to him, even when it seems hes being the good cop. Almost every behavior he
exhibits is a disguise of his real moments. At this point he has tipped his hand and has accused
him of murdering children. For the first time in the play his faade begins to chip away,
unearthing a vengeful tormenter.)
TUPOLSKI: Heres where we stand as of five-fifteen P.M., Monday the fourth. Along with the
evidence we found in your house, your brother, spastic or not, has, under duress or not, admitted
enough about the killings for us to execute him before the evenings out, but, as Ariel said, hes
hardly the brains behind the operation, so we want you to confess too. We like executing writers.
Dimwits we can execute any day. And we do. But, you execute a writer, it sends out a signal,
yknow? (Pause) I dont know what signal it sends out, thats not really my area, but it sends
out a signal. (Pause) No, Ive got it. I know what signal it sends out. It sends out the signal
DONTGOAROUNDKILLINGLITTLEFUCKINGKIDS. Wheres the mute
girl? Your brother didnt seem to want to spill the beans.

Max Simone Show Proposal

The Pillowman

Fall 2012

ARIEL
(A brutal and violent detective who has a vendetta against anyone who commits crimes against
children because of abuse in his own past. He ends up being more sympathetic towards Katurian
and his stories than Tupolski, though not at first. He is the victim of a shattered childhood who
even as an adult has no one who listens to or cares about him. His dual motives for being a
relentless police officer are to be admired by innocents and to eternally punish the guilty. Here
we see not only the hatred that drives Ariel but also how that hatred seems to be depriving of
both life and humanity)
ARIEL: You think theres something about me ? Really? Well, yknow, Ill tell you what that
something is. There is an overwhelming, and there is an all-pervading, hatred a hatred of
people like you. Of people who lay even the littlest finger on children. I wake up with it. It
wakes me up. It rides on the bus with me to work. It whispers to me, They will not get away
with it. I admit it, sometimes I use excessive force. And sometimes I use excessive force on an
entirely innocent individual. But Ill tell you this. If an entirely innocent individual leaves this
room for the outside world, theyre not gonna contemplate even raising their voice to a little kid
again, just in case I fucking hear em and drag em in here for another load of excessive fucking
force. Now, is this kind of behavior in an officer of the law in some way questionable morally?
Of course it fucking is! But you know what? I dont fucking care!