Theatre: McDonagh’s adult fairytale takes us to the darkest corners

This production from Andrew Flynn is a revival of Decadent Theatre’s 2015 production

Decadent Theatre’s production of Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman

The Pillowman

Civic Theatre, Tallaght, Dublin

Rating:3/5

It is difficult not to read Martin McDonagh’s dark fairytale, The Pillowman, as a fable about his own experiences as a writer. His debut, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, was mired in controversy, as were the rest of his ‘Irish’ plays, which borrowed liberally from the 20th-century canon without credit and presented an unflattering and backward picture of Ireland on the cusp of the Celtic Tiger.