Martin McDonagh, the multi Olivier, BAFTA and Academy Award-winning playwright and screen-writer responsible for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths and Six Shooter, is back in London’s West End this summer with his acclaimed iconic play, The Pillowman.
Performances begin at the Duke of York’s Theatre from Friday 24 July, for a strictly limited 12-week season. As a special initiative, the producers are also thrilled that they will be making tickets available for every performance on a ‘Pay What You Can” scheme.
With an all-star cast including Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Golden Globe Award winner, Nocturnal Animals) and Steve Pemberton (Bafta Award winner, The League of Gentlemen), Matthew Dunster directs the first ever West End production of Martin McDonagh’s electrifying and savagely funny Olivier Award-winning The Pillowman (its only previous UK run was at the National Theatre in 2003) at the intimate Duke of York’s Theatre for a strictly limited season.
Martin McDonagh said: “The Pillowman is a play that’s always been very close to my heart, in terms of its combination of the darkest of dark comedy with its exploration of the nature of story-telling itself. It’s a play that I haven’t wanted to have staged in London until I could find the perfect director and the ideal cast for it, and having worked with Matthew previously on Hangmen, and been an admirer of Steve and Aaron’s work for many years, I feel it’s the perfect time to find out what a whole new generation makes of this peculiar tale…”
In a totalitarian state a Writer is questioned by the authorities about a spate of murders that bear similarities to his short stories. Is this life imitating art or something more sinister? This black comedy widely regarded as one of the greatest plays of the past 25 years, examines the role of the artist in society and asks what price do we pay for freedom of expression.
