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The Pillowman Play Analysis

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I chose to produce The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh simply because dark comedy is my favorite genre and this play has quite a few concepts that would be considered “taboo” or topics that should be talked about on a regular basis, but aren’t due to the fact that it is potentially uncomfortable subjects. Some examples of the taboo topics in the play are government systems, media coverage, and mental illness. The audience intended for this play is adults, being that the plotline includes more risky/disturbing content such as police corruption/brutality. The Pillowman begins with storywriter Katurian in an investigation room blindfolded, when investigators Tupolski and Ariel enter to ask him some questions about some recent child murders. The setting …show more content…

The “good cop/ bad cop” tactic is used by interrogators as a way to psychologically mess with the person’s mind to make them tell the truth. Although in the play Tupolski gets a little rude at times, compared to Ariel he is seemingly nice about treating Katurian with respect. The interrogations continue with Ariel continuously getting more frustrated with Karurian, eventually beginning to physically harm him, according to the stage directions. Police brutality has been around as early as 1872 in the United States, where protesters were beaten by police to stop them from protesting any longer. One would think if this happened in the workplace, it would get handled right away, but it seems as though this kind of behavior from Ariel doesn’t concern Tupolski that much, or anyone who works with them for that matter. If rule breaking is indeed happening, then Tupolski should report it to their supervisors, yet never does despite police brutality has happened on more than one occasion, according to the text. Does Tupolski's decision to not report Ariel's behavior infer that the place at which they work is corrupt? That they will do anything just to get the truth out of suspects? In my opinion, not reporting such rule breaking behavior strongly suggests the place in which they work is corrupt, and even goes further as to suggest the entire system is corrupt as well. In order for something like corrupt behavior to be resolved, the entire system needs to look more carefully at all criminal investigation workplaces to ensure behavior such as Ariel’s is not happening within every

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