Dark matter
Wednesday, 25 June 2008
The Pillowman has been garnering rave reviews upstairs at Belvoir Street Theatre for over three weeks now. Star Marton Csokas sat down with Garrett Bithell.
One of the blackest of black comedies ever written for the stage, Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman has been taking Sydney’s theatre community by the throat upstairs at Belvoir Street since June 4. Hot on the heels of his sensational Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the play marks Craig Illot’s directorial debut for Company B.
Set in an unnamed totalitarian state, the play follows the brutal interrogation of a largely unpublished writer called Katurian after a series of child murders in his town mimic the plots of his short stories.
“It’s not a very pleasant world,” Marton Csokas, who plays Tupolski, one of the sardonic policemen who interrogate Katurian, tells SX. “It’s an absurd world and a severe place to inhabit and yet, because of that, an immense amount of humour comes out.
“Katurian has a sense of humour and rebellious attitude in order to counter the misplaced crimes and the misplaced guilt that are put on him.”
The Pillowman is a challenging text. McDonagh has confronted the theme of artistic legacy – the importance of what we leave behind and whether it should be more important than what we do here and now, and ultimately the issue of literature’s ability to outlast tyranny.
“For some people it’s confronting and of course we’re all different, so I’m not keen to hype that up,” Marton says. “My personal opinion is that the more frightening, the more ludicrous, the more repressive the totalitarian regime is, the more liberating the laughter will be.
“The absurdity, the hollowness, the futility, eventually becomes so despairing and so unbearable that you laugh. And that’s where humour is our saviour.
“It’s imperative that we embrace the things we don’t like about ourselves – the overwhelming fear that can envelop us, the despair, the meaninglessness – not fight them, or look for the sunny side all the time, or run away from them. Embrace it – and from there comes the joy as opposed to escapism.”
The Pillowman had its world premiere in 2003 at the Royal National Theatre, and subsequently received the 2004 Olivier Ward and an Evening Standard Award nomination for Best New Play. McDonagh’s other plays include The Lonesome West and The Lieutenant of Inishmore, and his short film Six Shooter won an Academy Award in 2006.
Marton received wide acclaim upstairs at Belvoir Street last year for his role as George in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf? He is also an accomplished film actor, recently starring in Aeon Flux, The Lord of the Rings and The Bourne Supremacy.
“In film, some people go out of their way to fuck you up,” he says. “It’s an interesting exploration of human behaviour. You get egos at work and they’re like viruses and it’s not pleasant. But having said that, when you’re on good film it’s hard to beat.
“What I like about the theatre is that usually the writer has toiled and laboured, and the ideas are oftentimes of greater substance and it has levels and layers. Coupled with that you have the live experience, which very enjoyable – well, sometimes it’s more enjoyable than others!”
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calm
giddy
chipper
cheerful
bouncy
