The Pillowman

Today we began to explore the play for our performance unit, the Pillowman. In two groups we staged the first five pages of act one- this is the scene where Katurian is first arrested and we meet the three main characters of Tupolski, Ariel, and Katurian.

Before beginning to act the section we first recapped our current knowledge of the play. This is important as it brings context to the scene, and influences the intonation and our understanding of lines, how characters interact depending on their relationship and how proxemics are used on stage to show status.

 The first thing we wanted to do was to create a moment of orientation (as in the theory of Stanislavski) in which we could convey these basic ideas:

1. Katurian is unaware of what is happening, or why he has been brought here
2. Ariel is a physically menacing character
3. Tupolski is in charge of the investigation; his menace is still clear but layered with a calmer tone.
4. Both Tupolski and Ariel are disgusted by Katurian, but also enjoy mocking him. They don’t believe a word of what he is saying

At the beginning of the play, Katurian’s motive is to co-operate with the police, as he thinks he has been brought here to help with an investigation, and his desire is to get out of the detention centre as quickly as possible.

We chose to place Megan (playing Katurian) on stage by herself. This allows a brief pause between the lights coming up, and the entrance of Ariel and Tupolski, where the only thing in the silence is the sound of Megan’s erratic breathing. This helps to create a tense atmosphere, which is then built upon by the other characters. It also gives the audience time to ask questions about what has and will happen- this connects them to Katurian, who also doesn’t fully understand why he has been brought here.

 Another important thing for the audience to understand in the moment of orientation, is the relationship between Tupolski and Ariel. In the play, they act as a sort of duo- although Tupolski has more authority. Therefore, we decided to have Ariel hold the door for Tuploski to show the audience the greater status of the character in this setting.

The look that they share after entering the stage conveys a thought between the two. By being able to communicate with a look, this shows the audience that there is a familiar relationship between the characters, and implies that they have worked together often. These looks used at specific points throughout the scene are made more important by the lack of eye contact, or shared conversation in the rest of the script- and are therefore able to emphasise a particular message to the audience. For example, a look is all that is needed to motivate Ariel’s movement back towards the other two characters at (time in the video) - it suggests to the audience that Tupolski feels there is more need for physical intimidation to support his interrogation.

We further emphasise the status and characteristics of Tupolski and Ariel through our use of staging and proxemics. Throughout the scene, Tupolski mostly remains seated, while Ariel moves about the stage. Sitting Tupolski at the table emphasises his lead in the investigation. While leaving Ariel stood shows his main position as a physically intimidating character. The contrast between the two suggests to the audience that while Ariel is a more violent, physically powerful character, Tupolski is more used to using his brain in order to trick the accused into admitting their guilt. I believe this manipulative trait could have been further emphasised if I had looked closer at the lines that Tupolski says. For example, “You’ve been racking your brains but you can’t think,” is a paradox. This is because you must be thinking in order to “rack” your brains. This is an example of Tupolski’s thoughtfulness and attention to what Katurian is saying. Slowing this line down and putting intonation on the words “racking” and “think” would have shown the audience that the detective was a smart man who is good with his words, particularly at using them to incriminate someone.

 

Changes we made

Throughout the scene, Tupolski is trying to twist Katurians words in ways that will eventually prove his guilt. His motive is to get Katurian to admit his guilt. Therefore, we decided that the pace of the scene should increase towards the end to reflect the confusing and manipulate ways of an interrogation. By increasing the pace, it helped to create a build to the moment when the audience hears Katurian’s monologue, which reveals much about the story that they didn’t yet know. It also reflects the nervous energy that Katurian feels as his thoughts get more confused, and the character becomes really afraid of his situation. For this reason we start to increase the pace at the moment that Katurian is considered guilty in the detective’s investigation. This also helps to show the repetitiveness of the job to the audience, by the ease with which Tupolski and Ariel say the lines.

 We felt that after Katurians character realises why they are really being interrogated, their needed to be another moment that would reemphasise Ariel’s intimidating personality. After the line “I hope we’re not enemies” we already had Ariel walking across stage to sit on the crate. However, we had no motive behind it, and so the movement seemed forced and unrealistic. So we decided to give the audience a sense of Ariel’s amused disgust at Katurian by punctuating her walk with a laugh. This gave the character a motive, which was that they had had enough of trying to speak to Katurian. Ariel believes fully that Katurian is guilty, so his suggestion of not being enemies implies to Ariel that he is refusing to admit his part in the crime. This is further emphasised with Ariel’s line “Why don’t we just start torturing him…” Connected with the laugh, this line suggests to the audience that Ariel is desensitized to violence because of his job, and this makes it even more sinister.