When Martin McDonagh’s sixth play, The Pillowman, premiered in 2003, critics were dubious. “Shocked and a Bit Amused,” read the headline of a review in The New York Times. (Months later, the skepticism gave way to an Olivier award for Best New Play). Set in a totalitarian police state, the show is about a writer named Kanturian who’s been arrested for killing children—indirectly. Fictional stories he wrote about a string of gruesome murders went on to inspire a depraved person to enact the crimes. During the show, Kanturian moves between his prison cell and an investigation chamber, where two detectives grill him. “You don’t have to agree with the entirety of the story,” McDonagh recently told The Guardian. “It’s fine to be uncomfortable watching aspects of the play.” For the show’s first London revival, at the Duke of York’s Theatre, the pop star Lily Allen plays the first female Kanturian. Her hopes for the show? “It’d be nice if people fainted.” —Jensen Davis