The AU Players will bring "The Pillowman" to life this Friday and Saturday in the Katzen Arts Center's Studio Theater.
"The Pillowman" is unexpected for a college theater performance. The complex story is dark, violent and, at times, shocking.
Ben Naramore, a College of Arts and Sciences senior, plays a young short story author, Katurian, who is arrested by the police. The police aren't forthcoming with why he's been arrested, but eventually he learns that his horribly violent stories, often involving young children, have been coming true.
Naramore excels on the stage. His presence and ease make the audience forget he's acting. Naramore's character is a difficult part to play, making his ability that much more impressive. Naramore admits the part was a challenge.
"The play was, without a doubt, the darkest show I've ever done," he said.
Naramore said it was also the most violent. The extreme violence Naramore cites is unquestionable. Though it's one aspect of the play that is necessary for the rest of it, viewers' stomachs will churn each time someone is thrown to the ground and beaten.
Anne Veal, a CAS senior, wrote in her executive director's statement, "This play is one of the most provocative, hilarious and disturbing things I've ever read." Audiences will certainly agree.
The production will make viewers question the nature of good and evil. It takes its title from a character in one of Katurian's stories who goes back in time to convince children who eventually become suicidal adults to "accidentally" kill themselves as children.
Though the idea sounds terrible, The Pillowman is only saving them years of heartache and misery that will lead to a horrible death. So is he good or evil?
While the play's premise forces one to address this very provocative question, the show's dialogue lends itself to highly comical moments.
The play opens with the policemen's interrogation of Katurian. The good cop-bad/cop team consists of Sean Bartley, a CAS senior, as good cop Tupolski and Kyle Encinas, a freshman in SPA, as bad cop Ariel.
Bartley was wonderful on stage. The audience's desire to like his good cop character is thwarted because Bartley gives him a slight sliminess that couldn't allow viewers to like him. He successfully presents his many lines of quick dialogue almost flawlessly.
Encinas is a little less overbearing on stage than a bad cop should be. His body movements were a little too stiff, particularly in his shoulders. The bad-cop attitude is conveyed more in the cocky swagger than in the broad shoulders.
Hopefully by opening night Encinas will feel comfortable enough on stage to give his character a little more life. Toward the end of the play, as Ariel becomes more human, Encinas plays him increasingly well.
Throughout the opening sequence, it is difficult not to connect Katurian's confusion at being arrested and personal accounts of those arrested by the U.S. government as part of the "War on Terror."
Overall, "The Pillowman" is a worthwhile, thought-provoking two hours that shows how blurred the line between good and evil can be, and the play's setting within the confines of a totalitarian government increases its meaning and significance.
The show's 8 p.m. performances are free, and its terrific execution makes it worth time and thought.
