WE don't give star ratings for our theatre reviews. But if we did, Pangdemonium's The Pillowman gets a full five stars. Make no mistake, Martin McDonagh's horror-comedy is hard to watch. There were a few audience members who upped and left early because they couldn't take its dark intensity and bouts of sadism and violence. During the intermission, a few more fled. But among those who stayed, at least half gave a standing ovation when the curtains fell during the gala night. It is an extremely potent production that's compelling, horrifying and funny all at once.

The Pillowman is set in a totalitarian state where writer Katurian (played by the excellent Daniel Jenkins) has been hauled to a police station for questioning. His gruesome children's fiction, it seems, mirrors a string of recent child murders. His interrogators (Adrian Pang and Shane Mardjuki) are hard-boiled men who are not averse to torturing their subjects - and that includes putting Katurian's mentally-disabled brother, Michal (Andy Tear), in the next room so Katurian can hear Michal scream in pain.

As the story unfolds, we are told that Katurian and Michal's upbringing was an atrociously sadistic one. Katurian, groomed by his parents to be a storyteller, channels his neuroses into writing dark Grimm-like fairytales that involve children in jeopardy. But unlike the Disney-fied versions of those Grimm tales, there are no happy endings in Katurian's tales. The children die at the end, just as they do now in the real world of The Pillowman.