Abstract
Through an analysis of Martin McDonagh’s play The Pillowman, this article explores the roles children play as avatars of futurity and tragic personages whose actions bid us to reflect on repetitive patterns of suffering. To this end, I suggest that we might productively engage with The Pillowman through the dramaturgical structures of tragedy, particularly insofar as tragedy revolves around catastrophic events in the family. While most previous scholarship on The Pillowman has focused on the protagonist, Katurian, and his social or moral obligations as an author, my work places the children of Katurian’s stories at the center of the play’s philosophical cruxes. Not yet fully socialized into societal paradigms that frame the replication of present circumstances, ideologies, and inequities as “progress,” the children of this play disrupt dominant tragic structures, offer catastrophic responses to abuse, and emphasize the absurdity of certain cultural narratives of justice and salvation. My readings are widely informed by the fields of tragic theory, childhood studies, critical posthumanism, and performance studies.
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© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- The Ethics of Participation and Participation Gone Wrong
- Spoken Like a Gentleman: The Burden of the Voice in An Anonymous Woman’s MANWATCHING and Gary McNair’s Locker Room Talk
- “There is No Proof”: Fermat’s Last Theorem and Historical Reconstruction in Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia
- “Who Would Disagree that in a World of Trump and Putin and Boris Johnson ... Brecht Is Not the Theorist and Playwright of Our Times?”: Bertolt Brecht’s Influence on David Greig’s Work
- The Blakean Imagination and the Land in Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem
- Wellesley Girl: Emotion, Democracy, and the Contemporary Dystopia
- Catastrophic Futures: Tragic Children in Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman
- Approaches to Play Directing in Contemporary Nigerian Theatre: A Study of Segun Adefila and Bolanle Austen-Peters
- Reviews
- Eva Spambalg-Berend. Dramen der Abjektion: Der Umgang mit den “Mächten des Grauens” in den Theaterstücken Sarah Kanes. Trier: WVT, 2017, 273 pp., €29.90 (paperback).
- Jaclyn I. Pryor. Time Slips: Queer Temporalities, Contemporary Performance, and the Hole of History. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2017, xvi + 184 pp., $99.95 (hardback), $34.95 (paperback), $34.95 (PDF ebook).
- Alice O’Grady, ed. Risk, Participation, and Performance Practice: Critical Vulnerabilities in a Precarious World. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2017, xxiv + 264 pp., €89.99 (hardback), €74.96 (PDF ebook).
- Vera Cantoni. New Playwriting at Shakespeare’s Globe. London: Bloomsbury, 2018, iii + 238 pp., £67.50 (hardback), £64.80 (PDF ebook).
- Joslin McKinney, and Scott Palmer, eds. Scenography Expanded: An Introduction to Contemporary Performance Design. London: Bloomsbury, 2017, xvii + 216 pp., £63.00 (hardback), £22.99 (paperback), £19.86 (PDF ebook). Thea Brejzek, and Lawrence Wallen.The Model as Performance: Staging Space in Theatre and Architecture. London: Bloomsbury, 2018, x + 188 pp., £67.50 (hardback), £20.69 (paperback), £64.80 (PDF ebook).
- Michael Pearce. Black British Drama: A Transnational Story. London: Routledge, 2017, 228 pp., £110.00 (hardback), £29.99 (paperback), £24.99 (PDF ebook).
- Trish Reid. The Theatre of Anthony Neilson. London: Bloomsbury, 2017, viii + 215 pp., £75.00 (hardback), £18.99 (paperback), £81.00 (PDF ebook).
- David Palmer, ed. Visions of Tragedy in Modern American Drama. London: Bloomsbury, 2018, xxii + 250 pp., £65.00 (hardback), £13.99 (paperback), £11.87 (PDF ebook).
- Adam Alston, and Martin Welton, eds. Theatre in the Dark: Shadow, Gloom and Blackout in Contemporary Theatre. London: Bloomsbury, 2017, xv + 283 pp., £75.00 (hardback), £81.00 (PDF ebook).
- David Cameron, Rebecca Wotzko, and Michael Anderson. Drama and Digital Arts Cultures. London: Bloomsbury, 2017, vii + 332 pp., £67.50 (hardback), £64.80 (PDF ebook). Peter Eckersall, Helena Grehan, and Edward Scheer.New Media Dramaturgy: Performance, Media and New Materialism. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2017, xi + 236 pp., €103.99 (hardback), €83.29 (PDF ebook).
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- The Ethics of Participation and Participation Gone Wrong
- Spoken Like a Gentleman: The Burden of the Voice in An Anonymous Woman’s MANWATCHING and Gary McNair’s Locker Room Talk
- “There is No Proof”: Fermat’s Last Theorem and Historical Reconstruction in Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia
- “Who Would Disagree that in a World of Trump and Putin and Boris Johnson ... Brecht Is Not the Theorist and Playwright of Our Times?”: Bertolt Brecht’s Influence on David Greig’s Work
- The Blakean Imagination and the Land in Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem
- Wellesley Girl: Emotion, Democracy, and the Contemporary Dystopia
- Catastrophic Futures: Tragic Children in Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman
- Approaches to Play Directing in Contemporary Nigerian Theatre: A Study of Segun Adefila and Bolanle Austen-Peters
- Reviews
- Eva Spambalg-Berend. Dramen der Abjektion: Der Umgang mit den “Mächten des Grauens” in den Theaterstücken Sarah Kanes. Trier: WVT, 2017, 273 pp., €29.90 (paperback).
- Jaclyn I. Pryor. Time Slips: Queer Temporalities, Contemporary Performance, and the Hole of History. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 2017, xvi + 184 pp., $99.95 (hardback), $34.95 (paperback), $34.95 (PDF ebook).
- Alice O’Grady, ed. Risk, Participation, and Performance Practice: Critical Vulnerabilities in a Precarious World. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2017, xxiv + 264 pp., €89.99 (hardback), €74.96 (PDF ebook).
- Vera Cantoni. New Playwriting at Shakespeare’s Globe. London: Bloomsbury, 2018, iii + 238 pp., £67.50 (hardback), £64.80 (PDF ebook).
- Joslin McKinney, and Scott Palmer, eds. Scenography Expanded: An Introduction to Contemporary Performance Design. London: Bloomsbury, 2017, xvii + 216 pp., £63.00 (hardback), £22.99 (paperback), £19.86 (PDF ebook). Thea Brejzek, and Lawrence Wallen.The Model as Performance: Staging Space in Theatre and Architecture. London: Bloomsbury, 2018, x + 188 pp., £67.50 (hardback), £20.69 (paperback), £64.80 (PDF ebook).
- Michael Pearce. Black British Drama: A Transnational Story. London: Routledge, 2017, 228 pp., £110.00 (hardback), £29.99 (paperback), £24.99 (PDF ebook).
- Trish Reid. The Theatre of Anthony Neilson. London: Bloomsbury, 2017, viii + 215 pp., £75.00 (hardback), £18.99 (paperback), £81.00 (PDF ebook).
- David Palmer, ed. Visions of Tragedy in Modern American Drama. London: Bloomsbury, 2018, xxii + 250 pp., £65.00 (hardback), £13.99 (paperback), £11.87 (PDF ebook).
- Adam Alston, and Martin Welton, eds. Theatre in the Dark: Shadow, Gloom and Blackout in Contemporary Theatre. London: Bloomsbury, 2017, xv + 283 pp., £75.00 (hardback), £81.00 (PDF ebook).
- David Cameron, Rebecca Wotzko, and Michael Anderson. Drama and Digital Arts Cultures. London: Bloomsbury, 2017, vii + 332 pp., £67.50 (hardback), £64.80 (PDF ebook). Peter Eckersall, Helena Grehan, and Edward Scheer.New Media Dramaturgy: Performance, Media and New Materialism. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2017, xi + 236 pp., €103.99 (hardback), €83.29 (PDF ebook).