Review: The Pillowman at Company B and In Bruges at Sydney Film Festival

The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh
Company B

In Bruges written and directed by Martin McDonagh
Sydney Film Festival


Martin McDonagh is flavour of the month in Sydney at the moment. Not only are you able to catch Company B's excellent production of the 2003 play The Pillowman, but over this weekend you can also catch the Australian premiere of his debut feature In Bruges at the Sydney Film Festival.

For fans of his dark and brutal writing, there couldn't be two better reasons to get out into the wet and wild winter that Sydney is having at the moment. Just don't take anyone who is slightly sensitive to what one might call 'rich' language because from some reports people are walking out of the theatre production. This is not to mention the people I witnessed who got up in disgust from the film.

Doesn't it just give you the warmest feeling to know that people still get up and leave 'shocking theatre'? And it happens despite all the protective cushioning dressed up as warning signs that now plague our theatres.

So I will give it to you clearly. Martin McDonagh's plays are filthy rich in swearing, as he litters the text with feck this and feck that like confetti over a bride and groom.

The shame of it, for those that leave, is that the swearing is the least shocking element of his plays (or film for that matter). He has an elegantly forceful way of placing very normal people in extraordinary, absurd and violent situations that ask the big questions of personal responsibility, fate and choice. And despite the heightened situation it is all beautifully placed within the realms of possibility.

In The Pillowman, we meet Katurian K. Katurian (Damon Herriman), a writer living in a police state, somewhere, sometime with his mentally affected brother Michal (Steve Rogers). It smells instantly of the world of Winston Smith as the play opens up with Katurian interrogated by good-cop Tupolski (Marton Csokas) and bad-cop Ariel (Dan Wyllie).

Central to the allegations are some short stories which Katurian has written that depict violent scenes and violent deaths of children. A string of unsolved murders in the town similar to the stories as well as the toes of a child discovered in Katurian's home leads him to become the prime suspect.

Although the play is set within the confines of the interrogation rooms the stories of Katurian are told throughout, taking you to dark fairytale worlds of his imagination. But the dark fairytale soon becomes a reality as the childhood of Katurian and Michal expose a fractured and unresolved past.

Director Craig Illott has crafted a stylish and honourable production for Company B and along with designers Nicholas Dare, Jo Briscoe, Niklas Pajanti and Jethro Woodward they have created a world that does not overstate but passionately delivers the reality and fantasy of the worlds.

What is most beautiful, aside from the excellent performances from one of the strongest casts to be ensembled in Sydney this year, is the simple story-telling that has you enraptured like a child.

It was then an unexpected delight to then find myself walking into the State Theatre just yesterday to witness the Australian premiere of In Bruges directed and written by McDonagh in his first venture into the world of feature films.

Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson) are hitmen who have suddenly had to hot-foot it to the Flemish town of Bruges at the order of their gangster boss (Ralphes Fiennes) after an accident. Waiting for 'the call' to give them the all clear, Ray despairs at the thought of having to spend two weeks in the 'shithole' of Bruges while his older companion delights in the medieval history, the canals, cobble-stone streets and the beautiful tower of the city.

Ray explains to Ken, "I grew up in Dublin. I love Dublin. If I grew up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me but I didn't, so it doesn't."

And so it goes, with Ray despairing over his 'accident' until he stumbles across a film set in the alcoves of Bruges where he meets the stunning Chloe (Clémence Poésy).

The performances by Farrell and Gleeson are spot on as they wrap the delicious one-liners around their tongues, playing brilliantly off each other.

It's interesting to see McDonagh translate his writing style to the world of film. His biting dark humour, the swearing, the politically incorrect comments and the violence are all there. So too is his trademark ability to ask those questions of personal responsibility.

But somehow, his transition into film loses a certain something. Within the beautiful realm of theatre, it is his unique strength of conjuring up worlds and people outside the four walls that makes him such a stunning playwright. The theatre is a place where he can let loose his imagination onto the audience and create a pressure cooker of tension as the outside forces bear down on the stage.

In film, he has found the restrictions and is forced to re-create the reality of his imagination and show all his cards. Don't get me wrong, this is a fantastic film that is a hilarious and brilliant ride but for those who have followed his stage work, there is that missing element.

But then again, maybe that's the nature of the film beast.


The Pillowman - Directed by Craig Ilott Set design Nicholas Dare Costume design Jo Briscoe Sound design Jethro Woodward Lighting design Niklas Pajanti. Cast: Amanda Bishop, Marton Csokas, Lauren Elton, Damon Herriman, Steve Rodgers, David Terry and Dan Wyllie.

Images:
Top - Dan Wyllie and Damon Herriman. Photo- Heidrun Lohr
Bottom - Brendan Gleeson and Colin Farrell