If you haven't heard of The Pilloman yet, here's the deal.

The play centers on the interrogation of a writer, named Katurian K. Katurian (?), who has written over 300 stories in which children have been tortured or killed in very brutal fashion. Unfortunately for him, a series of child murders has recently taken place, all in the manner of the killings in his stories. He and his mentally impaired brother Michael are the prime suspects, and in the course of their interrogation, two policemen, Tupolski and Ariel, utilize extreme physical and psychological measures to get them to confess. Here's the kicker...The Pillowman is a comedy. The kind of comedy where laughs turn to gasps, and back to laughs again. To call it dark would be like calling Star Wars III "slightly anticipated".

The first reason to see The Pillowman is the cast. The performances of all four main characters are exceptional. Billy Crudup, as the writer, Katurian, effortlessly switches between sympathetic brother and pompous writer, whose stories matter more than his brother ever will. Zeljko Ivanek, as policeman Ariel, spends most of the play beating up on Katurian, but is also responsible for the its greatest display of kindness. Michael Stuhlbarg, as the half-wit brother (the reason for his disability being central to the plot) evokes compassion even when confessing his sins. And Jeff Goldblum, as Detective Tupolski, is hilarious. His deadpan delivery has never been put to better use.

The second reason to see The Pillowman is the stories. They've been described as Grimm's Fairy Tales as edited by Quintin Tarantino. For me, they brought back memories of the Edgar Allen Poe stories we all read in high school...Tell-tale Heart, Cask of Amontillado, etc...but only if Edgar really had a thing against kids. The play's name comes from one of the more compassionate stories Katurian has written, and shows a very sad and sympathetic side to him. But another simply called "The Jesus Story" ends in probably the worst way to go one could imagine.

I really liked The Pillowman. I didn't love it, but I really liked it. Just about every critic that's seen it says it's amazing, and should battle Doubt for best new play. I've tried to figure out what bothered me. Could be the couple of instances when the characters go on just a bit too long about their own philosophies of life. Or simply, that I had read all the amazing reviews and expected too much. (Or maybe it's because the seats at the Booth Theatre SUCK.)

Whatever...it's really good. See for yourself.