Hovey Players Will Open Martin McDonagh’s Tony Award Winning Thriller 'The Pillowman’

Hovey Players is getting ready to open one of its most provocative pieces of theater this season in Martin McDonagh's The Pillowman. McDonagh's work received the 2004-2005 New York Drama Critic's Circle award for Best New Foreign Play as well as two Tony awards. It was also nominated for the 2004 Evening Standard Award for Best New Play.

The show revolves around Katurian, an author of short stories often focused on violence against children. He is arrested when a string of child murders begins, mirroring the violent acts in his stories. Two detectives, Ariel and Tupolski bring him to an interrogation room where the questioning begins. When Katurian is told that his brother Michal has confessed to the crimes and implicated Katurian in the confession, the author resigns himself to being sentenced to death but fights to keep his stories from being censored forever by the police state he lives in.

The play includes both narrations and reenactments of some of his stories, most notably the autobiographical tale, "The Writer and the Writer's Brother," which explains how Katurian's dark imagination developed - he spent many nights as a child hearing the sounds of his brother, Michal, being horribly abused by their parents.

Director Michelle Aguillon of Watertown was intrigued by the dark story of The Pillowman adding, "I was drawn to this play not only by the opportunity to direct the genre (horror/mystery), but also drawn to Martin McDonagh's writing — such brilliant writing, but what mostly got me was the relationship between the two brothers, Katurian and Michal - how one gave up everything to save the other."

Playing the tortured author Katurian is Craig Ciampa of Billerica. Bill Stambaugh of Waltham plays his troubled brother, "Michal." David Lebahn of Somerville and Bob Williams of Waltham portray the two detectives investigating the horrible crimes.

"What I found most compelling about this script is throughout all of the dark moments and yes, there are even comedic moments, the play continuously asks just how far you would go for the things you love. But in this story, it takes place in a fictional world where all the freedoms we take for granted are just gone. The state controls the press, the police, and the people — it was such a scary idea," says Ciampa. "But an idea that I knew would make for an amazing piece of theater."

The Pillowman opens on March 17 and runs through April 1. Showtimes are 8 pm for the Thursday - Saturday shows, and 2 pm for the Sunday presentation. The show is presented in Hovey's Black Box Theatre at 9 Spring Street in Waltham.

It should be noted that this show has extremely mature content and should not be thought of as a 'family-friendly" presentation. For tickets visit www.hoveyplayers.com