From the devilishly inspired mind of Martin McDonagh—Academy Award®–winning writer of THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI—comes HANGMEN, a killer comedy nominated for 5 Tony Awards® including Best Play. What’s Britain’s second-most famous executioner to do now that hanging has been abolished?
Drink, of course. But when a cub reporter and a mysterious stranger turn up at his pub, everything hangs in the balance. HANGMEN marks McDonagh’s seventh play on Broadway, following his Tony-nominated productions of THE PILLOWMAN and THE LIEUTENANT OF INISHMORE. Winner of the Olivier Award for Best New Play and Set Design, HANGMEN plays a strictly limited engagement at the Golden Theatre after multiple sold-out engagements in London and Off-Broadway’s Atlantic Theatre Company.
The nasty-twisty plot works best in the first half, when its goads are sharpest. McDonagh needs speed and an unbalanced audience to keep his pressures high, but the last third of his play wobbles woozily, like a coaster that's gone rolling off the bar. Some of this is the fault of director Matthew Dunster's production, though it looks absolutely gorgeous (Anna Fleischle designed both brown set and brown costumes) and sounds incredible (Ian Dickinson can be thanked for many of the jump-scare transitions). Casting is everything in a show so reliant on its two leads, and here, as was the case when it played downtown, the balance isn't right.
There's craftmanship in the way the playwright is able to maintain suspense in a plot full of surprises. There's also cleverness in the dialogue, and in the wacky characters, reflecting McDonagh's hip wit in the bad boy tradition of Joe Orton. The production design is flawless; Anna Fleischle's costumes and especially her sets are solid. But this time around, I found 'Hangmen' ultimately less than satisfying; all the caveats I expressed four years ago still exist, and now loom larger for me.
2015 | West End |
Original West End Production West End |
2018 | Off-Broadway |
Atlantic Theater Company US Premiere Off-Broadway |
2022 | Broadway |
Broadway Premiere Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2022 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Direction of a Play | Matthew Dunster |
2022 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Production of a Play | Hangmen |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Lighting Design of a Play | Joshua Carr |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play | Alfie Allen |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play | David Threlfall |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Hangmen |
2022 | Tony Awards | Best Scenic Design of a Play | Anna Fleischle |
2021 | Theatre World Awards | Theatre World Awards | Gaby French |
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