Martin McDonagh's plays, vacillating between rural Irish bleakness from "Leenane" to "Inishmoor" and wicked comedy full of absurd situations and dialogue, have been delighting audiences since the early 90s. Then, with "The Pillow Man" in 2003, McDonagh brilliantly proved that as a playwright he is not just the chronicler of Irish quirkiness, but retired from the theater for quite some time. His short film "Six Shooter" as well as his first feature film "Seeing and Dying Bruges" earned him Oscar nominations in 2006 and 2008. He was responsible for directing and writing both projects. His first play after an absence from the stage of over ten years was therefore highly anticipated in England last year: "Hangmen" is again typical McDonagh, in that humour and violence are close together.
This wicked homage to a profession rarely in the spotlight redefines the term "Swinging 60s"with an ironic light hand: In 1965, on the day the death penalty was abolished, more than one curious reporter mingles with the local drinkers at the pub of Harry, the second most famous hangman in England, asking questions about Pierrepoint, the number one hangman. Suddenly, as in a classic Western setting, a strange stranger also appears on the scene, throwing everyone into disarray. Then, when Harry's daughter disappears, the past seems to finally catch up with the hangman.
McDonagh creates a well-balanced plot that pairs accurate character drawing and narrative verve with fundamental questions about state power and guilt without ever tipping into the banal or moralizing.
Text source and more information about this event at: http://www.staatstheater-wiesbaden.de/programm/spielplan/2017-01/hangmen-2016-2017/3080/
