The Pillowman

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of murder (including child victims), suicide, child abuse (including sexual abuse), ableism, religious and racial discrimination, graphic violence (including police brutality), substance abuse, mental illness, and offensive language (including profanity).

“A great man once said, ‘The first duty of a storyteller is to tell a story,’ and I believe in that wholeheartedly, ‘The first duty of a storyteller is to tell a story.’ Or was it ‘The only duty of a storyteller is to tell a story?’”

Katurian tries to defend himself against Ariel and Tupolski’s threats by explaining that he writes fiction solely for the sake of writing fiction, but his mix-up in this quote is telling. Katurian may want to believe that the only role a storyteller has is to tell a story, but he is forced to confront the idea that his stories do have consequences in the world. Telling a story might be his first duty, but he is also responsible for facing whatever reactions people have to his writing.

“Your name is Katurian Katurian Katurian?”

Katurian’s first name is the same as his middle and last—an instance of absurdist humor that mocks the police officers—and the audience—for trying to find meaning in his name. Tupolski’s incredulous tone points toward the absurdity of this name, breaking the fourth wall as the play comments on itself.

“He represents a bad father. He is a bad father. How do you mean, ‘represents’?”

Tupolski and Katurian have an extended debate about whether anything in Katurian’s stories “represents” anything else. Katurian insists that he doesn’t use any symbolism or figurative language—a denial intended to defend his plays against the charge that they are covertly “anti-state”—but Tupolski argues that regardless of Katurian’s intent as the writer, if a reader interprets a character or object as a representation of something else, their interpretation is as valid and real as Katurian’s intent.