The team of San- Jacinto central college performed the play “The Pillow man” originally written by Martin McDonough on 2003 in the Powell Arena Theatre. The play was about the tale of Katurian, a fiction writer who was interrogated by the two detectives Ariel and Tupoloski regarding the unpleasant stories of children written by Katurian. The content of Katurian’s stories was similar to the murder of the different children in the town, so they were suspected of the case. The play was performed on the black-box theatre, which was modified into the upthrust stage.
The stage was good enough to support some specific part of the play like the background family scene that was provided when Katurian was narrating the story. The audiences sitting on raised stages on the three sides were able to relate the Katurian’s narration with the background scene. The opening moments of this play are superlatively funny, thanks to the interaction between Katurian and his two captors, a Detective named Tupolski (Joe Franco) and a policeman named Ariel (Richard Turner).
Tupolski seems to be the epitome of quiet, industrial effectiveness, whereas Ariel (the winged indentured servant in The Tempest?) is very tightly wound, and more than eager to jump his prisoner and beat him senseless.
Though all the characters were good to perform their assigned roles, I personally appreciate the role of Michal, performed by Aaron Alford, a freshman student of San Jacinto College. Just as the script says Michal was little slow to get the things, Alford did exactly the same throughout the play. As well, this character has added some comedy flavors in the play like itching ass etc. He made us laugh most of the time. The sound factor of the play was good. The crying sound from the background was really natural that attracted the attention of the audiences like me. It made to feel like somebody was really tortured there. There was a special sound effect in the play relating to the homicide and torture. Mr. Brian Hamlin did the very good job as a director and fight director.
The play was directed so well. All the cast and crew do their best to execute the play. Most of the casting members were professional and graduate students interested in theatre. The two plays that I watched during this semester “The Pillowman” and “KOYAANISQATSI”. The opening scene of “The Pillowman” and “KOYAANISQATSI” both were really good. Among these two play I like “KOYAANISQATSI” better because the Hopi Indian chanter played really well. Also, action was well executed on “Star Blood” on “KOYAANISQATSI” rather than interrogating on “The Pillowman”. Lighting was well executed on ““KOYAANISQATSI” and sound effects on “The Pillowman” To sum it up, the play was good enough to entertain. I can make a consensus that the script of the play was well written. The characters were giving just the satisfaction to the superior script of the play. It was worth watching.
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