What Dreams May Come

The Pillowman is a fractured fairy tale

Comments (0) By Mary Templeton Thursday, Jan 26 2006

At some level, Martin McDonagh's The Pillowman, the Broadway smash hit that's making its regional theater debut tonight at the Alley, is a fairy tale. But don't expect a big bad wolf to pop up and hand-feed you a moral. "It's unsettling, it's disturbing, and it's very wickedly funny," explains director Gregory Boyd. "But no one label really speaks to what it is."

More About

The Pillowman tells the story of Katurian, a fiction writer who is interrogated about crimes in his community that closely parallel those in his grisly short stories. "What's brilliant about the play is that the stories are all intertwined," says Boyd. "At some fundamental level, the play is about storytelling: what it means to do it, what it means as mythmaking and how it's a synonym for lying. To ask what the interrogators think is to miss the point."

Asked what the point is, Boyd cites Shakespeare's axiom that "The play is live like truth." "The act of watching it changes it," he explains. "The outcome does matter, but I would be irresponsible if I said it." Decide for yourself at 8 p.m. Show continues through February 26. 615 Texas. For tickets and showtimes, call 713-228-8421 or visit www.alleytheatre.org. $29 to $46.
Jan. 27-Feb. 26