Review: Killian Scott makes entrancing stage debut in Hangmen
Irish Premiere of Martin McDonagh’s Hangmen shines a shade too much light on pitch black comedy.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Gaiety, Dublin
Ever since I played a ‘fastidious hangman’ in a piece called Sequence of Events, plays about the craft, or should that be the art of the hangman, have become a bit of an obsession. As subject matter goes, it’s more popular than you might think.
Consequently, Martin McDonagh’s darkly comedic and sharply observed Hangmen was on my radar fairly swiftly.
Although work prevented me seeing the original 2015 Royal Court production, I did manage to catch a National Theatre Live screening when it transferred to London’s West End. It was every bit the play I’d hoped, twisting, teasing and thoroughly engrossing.
With its US premiere set for New York, I was Broadway-bound until Covid put paid to travel and any chance of seeing that production.
So it was with high expectations I booked tickets to see the Irish Premiere, currently running at Dublin’s Gaiety Theatre. Perhaps too high.
Hangmen is the story of Harry, Britain’s second best hangman. We find him playing ‘mine host’ in his small Oldham pub, reflecting on his other career on the day hanging is abolished.
As he lords it over his locals, unexpected visitors ensure nothing will ever be the same again for Harry.
McDonagh’s cleverly layered and craftily written text demands total commitment from its players.
Peopled by misfits and outliers, each is precisely penned to walk the fine line between character and caricature. On the whole most of the 12-strong cast meets the challenge, though with varying degrees of success; most hit the heightened delivery McDonagh’s script requires, others fall short, occasionally way short.
The result is an uneven three star production of a five star text, experienced in one star comfort - more of that later. Nevertheless, there is much to love about this production.
Ciaran Bagnall’s set and lighting design is eye-catching and dramatic, Andrew’s Flynn’s direction fluid and direct and Killian Scott’s entrancing stage debut worth the ticket price alone.
As the mysterious stranger Mooney, a man with little, if any filter, he brings a delicious darkness and wry humour to the stage. There is little doubt he is the star of the production.
Elsewhere, Denis Conway’s Harry is a bombastic blowhard, a bully just lacking the full authority the role calls for.
From the sycophantic bar room ensemble, Gary Lydon’s morose Inspector Fry and Daniel Reardon’s deftly observed comic turn as Arthur shine, as does Olivia Byrne as Harry’s ‘mopey’ teenage daughter, Shirley.
If Flynn’s direction uses comedy to lighten the underlying themes of McDonagh’s shrewd social commentary, it does manage to capture a degree of the ugliness of lost humanity.
A good night out at the theatre then, but one spoiled by the cramped seating of The Gaiety’s Dress Circle.
To sit in pain due to the lack of leg room - my right knee has yet to recover - is unacceptable, especially at the prices charged. Not being the tallest or indeed biggest of folk, I can only imagine how uncomfortable larger theatre-goers must suffer. Definitely time for a refurb.
Hangmen runs until April 8