Shight Productions, a new Oxfordshire-based independent theatre company, will make its debut at the Old Fire Station in January 2027 with The Pillowman, Martin McDonagh’s acclaimed black comedy about storytelling, artistic freedom and a series of disturbing crimes.
The production, running from 20 to 23 January, centres on a writer whose unsettling short stories appear to mirror a series of child murders. Interrogated by two detectives, he must confront the relationship between his fiction and the violence unfolding around him.
Written by McDonagh, the playwright and filmmaker behind In Bruges, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and The Banshees of Inisherin, the play combines dark humour with psychological tension. Beneath its gruesome fairy tales and unsettling interrogation scenes lie questions about the responsibilities of artists and the limits of freedom of expression.
Founded by actor and sound designer Eloise Sheffield and musician and producer Dan Knight, Shight Productions is bringing its first production to the Oxford stage with an emphasis on sound and production design.
Sheffield and Knight invite audiences to embrace the play’s darker elements. “If you have a penchant for the dark, the gruesome and the morbid, then come and see this show. If you want to find out just how maladjusted your own sense of humour is, then come and see this show. And, most importantly, if you want to find out ‘whodunnit?’, then absolutely come and see this show,” they said.
The play has attracted critical acclaim. Ben Brantley, writing in The New York Times, described it as “a spellbinding stunner of a play”, adding: “Comedies don’t come any blacker than this.”
The production is recommended for audiences aged 16 and over. Performances at the Old Fire Station are scheduled for 7.30pm on Wednesday 20, Thursday 21, Friday 22 and Saturday 23 January 2027.
Standard tickets cost £20, with a reduced £14 option and a £26 price for those able to pay more. Tickets are available through the Old Fire Station website.
