Hangmen, theatre review: Dark laughs as the noose tightens

Martin McDonagh's new play is a compelling return to the theatre where he had his first hit 19 years ago, says Henry Hitchings
Absurd presence: David Morrissey as Harry Wade
Henry Hitchings23 September 2015

Martin McDonagh’s new play is a black-hearted slice of gallows humour. It starts in 1963, with David Morrissey’s bow-tied Harry Wade presiding over the execution of a panicked James Hennessy. Amid the chaos, Wade is irritated by the suggestion that the authorities should have given the job to his more famous rival, Albert Pierrepoint.

An astonishing scene change follows, and the action jumps forward two years. Hanging has been abolished and Wade runs a pub in Oldham.

His grisly past casts a shadow over the regulars but their routine trading of insults is disrupted by the arrival of a gobby Londoner. This is Peter Mooney, a mysterious figure who’s looking for lodgings and may have a sinister agenda involving Wade’s daughter, Shirley.

While Johnny Flynn brings a charismatic menace to this articulate outsider, Morrissey’s Wade is a pin-sharp portrait of a man whose gruff severity can’t mask his absurdity, and Reece Shearsmith is wonderfully creepy as his inept assistant Syd.

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1/50

Matthew Dunster directs with a keen eye for both farce and the macabre, and Anna Fleischle’s ingenious design evokes the timeworn textures of a pub that looks like a diseased lung.

For McDonagh, this is a compelling return to the theatre where he had his first hit 19 years ago. He seems more intent than ever on revelling in the grotesque, and some of the characters’ repartee leaves a sour taste. But Hangmen is hilarious while also presenting a devastating vision of guilt, betrayal and flawed masculinity.

Until Oct 10, Royal Court Theatre (020 7565 5000, royalcourttheatre.com)

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