Izaak van der Wende, a rising senior at Nauset Regional High School, first read and admired Martin McDonagh’s play The Pillowman when he was 14, but he knew its dark story and vulgar language wouldn’t fly in a high school production. During a conversation with friends about creating more challenging Cape Cod theater on their own, van der Wende suggested as a joke that they should start with The Pillowman.
That joke has now become a reality. Van der Wende and a group of recent Nauset graduates formed the Bits and Bobs Theater Company, and their first production, the 2003 play by McDonagh, is opening this month at the Academy Playhouse in Orleans.
The comedy-drama is about a writer, Katurian, who is questioned by totalitarian-state police about his gruesome stories that show similarities to actual murders of children. Van der Wende discussed the play at length with his friends Lucie Jackett and Hunter Hunt, both Pillowman fans. The friends had given copies of the play to each other as birthday presents and were intrigued by its message about the importance of art and storytelling. They agreed that the play was disturbingly resonant.
Van der Wende says the play’s depiction of neo-Nazism, police brutality, abuse of power, racism, ableism, censorship, and mistrust of the media “looks exactly like America now.”
“You wake up every day to something alarming and new that makes your brain race,” he says. “Being able to use art as a form of catharsis for this period of anxiety, encourage discourse, and offer insights into what’s going on seemed important.”
The company’s name — Bits and Bobs, meaning “an assortment” — is derived from the title of a one-night program van der Wende directed at Nauset High last winter featuring an array of short scenes. For that program, he intended to stage a scene from The Pillowman performed by Niev Witnauer, at the time a Nauset senior, but that didn’t happen.
“I think young actors are pushed into this cliché of acting in Mamma Mia! or something like that, rather than being given the opportunity to prove themselves in a play with mature and difficult themes,” says van der Wende, who’s directing and acting in this production. “We’re young artists who love challenging work and are reading these plays on our own. Young people deserve the opportunities and have the skills to be part of shows like The Pillowman.”
In May, van der Wende, Jackett, and Hunt decided to stage a production of the play even if it couldn’t be done at the high school. Witnauer agreed to join them, and van der Wende recruited other friends including Aidan Pernal, a rising senior at Nauset who is doing the lighting and sound, and recent Nauset graduates Julien Lajoie, Marissa Wright, and John O’Meara.
The group felt ready to strike out on its own after participating in productions in Nauset’s drama program and, in the case of van der Wende, Lajoie, and O’Meara, at Cape Rep Theatre’s Young Company.
During a rehearsal at the Academy Playhouse, Hunt and van der Wende discussed how best to modulate the anger and violence of Hunt’s character as a scene progresses. The scene is very physical. Hunt, playing the role of interrogator Ariel, drags van der Wende across the stage to be stuffed into a body bag. Hunt also throws a rolling office chair across the stage. He pushes O’Meara, playing Katurian, around as he yells about Katurian’s confessions. Later, he seems to slap and choke him.
Jackett, a Mount Holyoke College student, plays the verbally and physically abusive detective Tupolski, a role usually played by a man. Jackett doesn’t believe she would have been cast in the part at most other theaters. During rehearsals, the group discussed toxic masculinity and how these detectives represent today’s insecure, conservative young men who choose violence as an outlet for suppressed anger.
Show announcements warn about its language and themes, including rape, but the company also hopes to make audiences laugh. It’s a fine line to walk. “The subject matter is so shocking when you read it for the first time,” says van der Wende. “It’s also surprising because you can’t stop laughing. It’s a great comedy on top of being this really provocative and dark piece.”
The brutality, slurs, and unexpected humor should make viewers think more about what they’re watching and consider whether they should be laughing or uncomfortable, says Hunt, a Bowdoin College student. “How do you play with humor in such a dark atmosphere? How do you react?”
Finding a space where the company could produce such an edgy piece of theater was a challenge for van der Wende. In the spring he called several local theaters, trying to find a suitable place. Judy Hamer, artistic director at the Academy Playhouse and former NRHS drama director, offered two August weeknights for The Pillowman performances, plus weekday rehearsal space.
Hamer has been impressed with the group’s maturity and dedication. “We’re building this opportunity for ourselves,” says Jackett. Hamer wanted them to know she thought they could handle that responsibility. Although The Pillowman is not officially a part of the Academy Playhouse’s season, it will briefly move onto the Academy stage with its set, a stark interrogation room, during the theater’s run of Godspell.
What’s next for Bits and Bobs? Maybe a January show during college winter break or a radio play they could create from different locations. The young actors are eager to make plans.
“Our goal is to support emerging artists,” says van der Wende. “If someone wants to do something, our mission is to enable that.”
Passion Project
The event: Bits and Bobs Theater Company’s The Pillowman, by Martin McDonagh
The time: Tues., Aug. 12 and Wed., Aug. 13, 7 p.m.
The place: Academy Playhouse, 120 Main St., Orleans
The cost: $10 and $20 at academyplayhouse.org
