Out of the Margins

Listed as one of Evening Standard's "50 best plays of the 21st century", and widely regarded as one of the best plays of the last 25 years, The Pillowman - written by The Banshees of Inisherin writer Martin McDonagh - tells the tale of Katurian, a fiction writer living in a police state, who is interrogated about the gruesome content of his short stories and their similarities to a number of bizarre child murders occurring in his town. The play received the 2004 Olivier Award for Best New Play, the 2004-5 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best New Foreign Play, and two Tony Awards for production. 

This is an incredibly rare chance to get your hands on Martin McDonagh's personal copy of the script from the most recent run of The Pillowman in 2023. Bound in an A4 ringbinder with the Pillowman logo on the front, the cover page says "MARTIN'S SCRIPT" in person before opening onto pages and pages of double-sided notes, annotations, highlights, crossings-out, biro (black and blue), highlighter pen, encirclings, and emotional (and otherwise) cues ("help her less smug", "could be bad", "innocent, less scary", "feels like a setup for a joke"). These are not just notes after the fact, we're very much watching an artist at work here ("should this be imbued with a bit of fear at the start?"), trying to fine-tune his masterpiece. "Don't lose clarity when whispering." 

It's thrilling to behold a top playwright's most recent rehearsal script, hot off the press so to speak. Accompanying the printed script in the ringbinder from the theatrical production recently presented in the West End is a copy of the Faber & Faber printed playtext edition (2023), signed by the playwright.