Martin McDonagh's first UK play for more than a decade, Hangmen, looks destined to be a hit after wowing critics at its premiere at the Royal Court.
Raised in London to Irish parents, McDonagh is best known for his blackly comic plays The Beauty of Leenane, which launched his career at the Royal Court in 1996, and The Cripple of Inishmaan. He is also the writer-director of the 2008 cult crime caper film, In Bruges, starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson.
His latest work, starring David Morrissey (The Walking Dead) and Reece Shearsmith (League of Gentleman), is his first play to be set in England.
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Hangman takes place in a pub in Oldham owned by Harry Wade (Morrissey), who was once known as the "second-best hangman in England". On the day in 1965 when hanging is abolished, a mysterious stranger visits with an eye for Wade's daughter.
Critics have been lavish in their praise.
"It's perhaps the most line-by-line funny play London has seen in years," says Dominic Cavendish in the Daily Telegraph, giving Hangmen five stars. McDonagh pays homage to Harold Pinter and Joe Orton, says Cavendish, while "brilliantly" getting to the heart of serious questions about justice and punishment.
The Independent's Paul Taylor agrees, also giving Hangmen another five stars and declaring it "a flawless treat". The play is both "drop-dead hilarious" and "perfectly executed", combining the "blackly comic brilliance of Martin McDonagh's writing" and a "consummately well-cast and performed production".
Michael Billington in The Guardian, the play and performance are "pitch perfect". McDonagh has "lost none of his ability to shock" and this "compelling evening" confirms his "prodigal, pluralist talent".
The one note of caution comes from Ann Trenneman in The Times. "Can you laugh about capital punishment?" she asks. "If not, then don't bother buying a ticket. There is not even one moment of earnestness here."
And if you object to jokes about Oldham you can also forget it. "The play is a festival of slurs against anyone or anything."
Still, Hangmen is brilliant and deftly directed. McDonagh may not have invented black comedy, Treneman says, "but [he] is certainly perfecting it".
Hangmen runs at the Royal Court until 10 October.
