By Michael Buzzelli
Pub owner and hangman, Harry Wade (Simon Bradbury), walks the condemned Hennessy (David Whalen) to the gallows, setting off long-lasting consequences in Martin McDonagh’s darkly comic “Hangmen.”
In 1963, the United Kingdom ended execution by hanging, retiring Wade from his part-time business. He returns to running the pub with his wife, Alice (Sheila McKenna), and daughter, Shirley (Sara Joyce Reynolds), but Wade does not go quietly. He spills the tea to local reporter, Clegg (Cameron Nickel). He even mocks the previous hangman, Pierrepoint (Whalen in a dual role) in the exposé.
The story makes the front page, delighting his barflies, Charlie (Arjun Kumar), Bill (Gregory Johnstone), and Arthur (John Reilly). Inspector Fry (Darren Eliker) has his reservations about Wade announcing his kill number (233) to the general public.
Enter Mooney (Charlie Kennedy), a smooth-talking gadabout with a penchant for peanuts. He’s got some sinister plans afoot. Mooney enlists Wade’s mousy right-hand man, Syd Armfield (James FitzGerald), to aid him in his devilish deeds, but things – to say the least – don’t go smoothly.
McDonagh’s wit is Guiness dark, but it goes down much easier.
Director Andrew Paul’s cast is top notch. Each member of the cast is terrific. There isn’t a blemished apple in the bunch.
Bradbury is triumphant. Even though his character is smug and unlikable, it’s easy to sympathize with him when his daughter goes missing. He conveys a range of emotions deftly in “Hangmen.” It’s a great performance.
McKenna’s Alice is guarded and tough until disaster looms.
Whalen serves up two distinct characters, the simpering Hennessy (a thief wrongly accused of murder), and Pierrepoint, the officious hangman with stale Brylcreem in his hair.
Kennedy, in his first professional role after graduating Point Park University is brilliant as the shifty Mooney. He is creepy AND menacing. He deftly manages to share the stage with luminaries like Bradbury, FitzGerald, McKenna, and Whalen.
Equally impressive is fellow Point Park grad, Reynolds, who shows her inner pluck after moping about the bar.
Spoiler alert: You have to hang around for the shocking ending.
A special recognition must be garnered upon Brandi Welle, the dialect coach, who zeroed in on a very specific Northern English accent. Everyone holds the accent without slipping into a Welsh sing song or Scott’s brogue.
The pub is “vedy British,” designed by Jonmichael Bohach, and the costumes, by Kimberly Brown, perfectly suit the characters. There’s a lot of gray and brown for a damp Northern British town.
In a crowded weekend, filled with beer festivals, drag shows, and theater, make room for “Hangmen.”
-MB
“Hangmen” runs until August 24 at the Carnegie Stage, For more information, click here.
