Tomorrow sees the start of short run of the Moonhawk production of The Pillowman, the controversial play from the multi-award winning writer and filmmaker Martin McDonagh (In Bruges, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, The Banshees of Inisherin).
The play is a jet-black comedy-drama about storytelling, freedom of speech in a totalitarian state and questions about the responsibility of a writer, when their words inspire horrible crimes.
Moonhawk presents a spectacular and intense production of this hilarious, brutal and thought provoking play.
The Pillowman was first performed in 2003 and the tells the story of Katurian, a writer of short stories, (Arthur Blake). The plot revolves on his interrogation by Tupolski (Leon Witcomb) and Ariel (Ella Wernham-Clark) after deaths described in his stories seem to have be recreated by a real killer.
Abingdon based Moonhawk, has been created to give opportunities to up and coming actors and technicians of all ages with a focus on supporting performers wanting to go to drama school. The company will be performing a wide range of different plays, both new and old. We welcome anyone interested in all aspects of theatre production on or backstage.
Moonhawk founder Leon Witcomb explains,
“I caught the drama bug over 10 years ago and have been acting, directing and stage managing ever since. More recently I’ve entered the world of producing, hence Moonhawk Productions. We’re based in Abingdon-on-Thames and we use several locations to put on our diverse types of drama. We operate an “open door” policy meaning that anyone can be part of Moonhawk – on stage, back stage, production and front of house”. In the summer Leon toured his own solo hit show “Adrift”, finishing the tour at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
“My mentor and the catalyst for my drama career is my old drama class teacher, Andrea Mardon. She taught me from a very early age and directed me in many shows and inspired me to take acting and producing seriously”.
“I first saw a student production of The Pillowman many years ago, having known Martin McDonagh’s writing through working on a couple of his Irish plays. The Pillowman at first seems very different in content and structure, but the fantastic writing for actors and the dark, dark humour is the same”.
Mike Ward, Director
Why Moonhawk?
“Moonhawk are a group of really talented performers, so it is a brilliant to see them tackling a challenging script, that requires them to use all their vocal and physical skills. Instinctively I just knew this was for them!”
Finally, why The Pillowman?
Mike explains, “The Pillowman is about storytelling, as a way of dealing with and reinterpreting traumatic events. Technology plays a huge part in visualising the interrogation scenes and the violence, without putting the actors in real danger. The challenge is to combine web cam streaming and video footage with amazing onstage performances. The combination of story and all our talents was irresistible!”
Tickets: £10 Concessions £7. Students £5 (age 16+ only) from www.ticketsource.co.uk/moonhawk and on the door.
Where: The Unicorn Theatre Abingdon.
When: Tuesday 30th January – Saturday 3rd February.
Time: 7.30pm
