The Pillowman is a 2003 play by Irish playwright Martin McDonagh

Martin McDonagh

Martin McDonagh is an Irish-British playwright, filmmaker, and screenwriter. Although he has lived in London his entire life, he is considered one of the most important living Irish playwrights.-Life:...

. It received its first public reading in an early version at the Finborough Theatre

Finborough Theatre

The Finborough Theatre is a fifty seat theatre in the Earls Court area of London, United Kingdom , which presents new British writing, UK and premieres of new plays, primarily from the English speaking world including North America, Canada, Scotland and Ireland, music theatre, and rarely seen...

, London, in 1995. It tells the tale of Katurian, a fiction writer living in a police state

Police state

A police state is one in which the government exercises rigid and repressive controls over the social, economic and political life of the population...

 who is interrogated about the gruesome content of his short stories

Short Stories

Short Stories may refer to:*A plural for Short story*Short Stories , an American pulp magazine published from 1890-1959*Short Stories, a 1954 collection by O. E...

, 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

New York Drama Critics' Circle

The New York Drama Critics' Circle is made up of 24 drama critics from daily newspapers, magazines and wire services based in the New York City metropolitan area. The organization was founded in 1935 at the Algonquin Hotel by a group that included Brooks Atkinson, Walter Winchell, and Robert Benchley...

 Award for Best New Foreign Play, and two Tony Awards for production.