the sunshine boys.(playwrights Martin McDonagh and Neil LaBute)(Brief Article)

Byline: Adam Green

Martin McDonagh refuses to discuss his work, or anything else, with members of the press, but boy, does he write good plays. Most notably: the Leenane trilogy, with its haunting portraits of rural Irish life. Now, in the harrowingly brilliant The Pillowman, this British playwright turns to a fictional totalitarian state, where a writer is being grilled-and then some-by the police about the grisly details of his short stories and their possible connection to a series of unspeakable child murders. Under the slam-bang direction of John Crowley, this darkly comic, Olivier-winning mix of dystopian political thriller, Brothers Grimm fairy tale, and Grand Guignol bloodbath kept rapt audiences at London's Royal National Theatre scared out of their wits. The Broadway cast includes Billy Crudup as the hapless writer and Jeff Goldblum as his lead inquisitor. But it's hard to imagine anyone matching ...