Review: The Pillowman

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The Pillowman is a must-see, must-experience at MainLine theatre

by Rebecca Ugolini

Fairy tales appeal to young ears because they promise adventure and deliver a comforting moral that reaches into everyday life from a land far, far away; in the thrill-seeking stage of adolescence where late nights with friends replace bed-side story-time, urban legends weave the same kind of enchanting, this-worldly-yet-otherworldly weft that lies at the base of all satisfying, if not particularly good, storytelling. 

Whether the tales of Cinderella or the hook-handed killer are plausible or implausible is immaterial to the importance of the story to both the teller and the listener; yet somewhere in the dispiriting world of 9-to-5 jobs and paying bills, we forget that we exist to be moved and thrilled by a really good story. That’s where the MainLine theatre and Lifelong Productions' staging of Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman steps in and jolts us uncomfortably, brilliantly, into remembering that at our core, we love being an audience.

First-Person: Stéfan Cédilot on Poutine Masala

(Photo credit: Louis Longpré)

On collaborations, handling the spice and writing a Bollywood play à la Québécoise called Poutine Masala 

by Stéfan Cédilot

Deepali Lindblom walked up to me one evening last Autumn, after one of my performances of All I Want is U2 at MainLine Theatre, introduced herself, said she was a dancer/choreographer, that she had liked the show, and that she would be interested in working with me on a future project. No further explanation. No attempt to sell the project to me. She simply asked for my email address and said she would contact me. 

Next thing I know, a few days later, I’m sitting in MainLine Artistic Director Jeremy Hechtman’s office with Deepali, and they’re telling me that they are going to produce a Bollywood play and that they want me to write it.

“Sure. No problem. I can do that.”

Wait. Rewind. What did I just say? What just happened? This conversation can’t be happening: 

Review: Sexy Dirty Bloody Scary

As the Wheel Turns

Sexy Dirty... may be more serious than it looks

by Gaëtan L. Charlebois

Sexy Dirty Bloody Scary is an amalgam of so many forms of theatre that if I had written them all down as they occured to me, I would hardly have watched the performance at all. There's burlesque, Charles Busch, John Waters, Alan Ayckbourn—right off the top of my head—and for the more serious among us, a dabbling into the circus arts, a heavy dollop of Brecht (especially the Weill collaborations) and a harkening back to Grand Guignol as well...

...or I could just be talking out of my ass.