I just got an email about Martin McDonough's play Hangmen which is coming to the Atlantic Theater Company on Jan. 18. I really love McDonagh's work, even his flops. Any buzz about this one?
National Theatre Live broadcast the London production of HANGMEN, and I thought it was a terrific play. Set in the 60's when Britain repealed hanging, the play deals with the effects of changing times and traditions on working class people. It also riffs on British suspense/stalker films of the 60's and 70's. It is a really well-written play with rich characters, an intriguing story and McDonagh's wicked socio-political commentary and trademark visceral "shocks". I don't know how Atlantic's production will stack up, but I would recommend seeing it.
I saw it on the West End as well. I had mixed feelings about it, but I definitely walked out having enjoyed it. The plot has very a slow build. A huge chunk of the play dragged significantly for me, but the pay-off in the final scene was outstanding. By the end I was laughing my ass off. I was happy for them to see that it's transferring, but I don't think I'll give it a return visit.
I got one for the end of January on a weekend night, I would just keep trying as many dates as possible- it's possible the site is overloaded at the moment.
BACK25 tickets are entirely sold out, according to the website.
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
The website now says SOLD OUT for BACK25 tix. I tried opening every single performance starting at 12noon and refreshed and didn't see BACK25 tickets for any of them.
I dont Think ATC was even trying to set aside Back25 seats. There’s no way they could have all been gone for the entire run in three minutes. They’d rather just sell them at full price
There were definitely tickets - maybe just bad timing. I got mine exactly at noon then looked about ten minutes later and there were still tickets for a few performances. Keep in mind that Back25 is only for preview performances so if you were looking after the first two weeks of performances only full-price seats would've popped up.
I got a ticket for that same matinee! There were only 2 left for that show when I went on. In that case, it's an error on their part for putting tickets on sale early. Sorry to anyone who wasn't able to get them for that reason.
I watched the NT broadcast and it was fantastic. It won the Olivier for Best Play and I expect the critics will love it here as well, if it isn't horribly miscast and terribly directed (like what happened to Festen).
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
Gone in five minutes. Had a hard time getting on site . It said buy tickets and nothing opened up for previews. Started before noon and at exactly noon.
Wee Thomas2 said: "When you say this is "dark", is it "Pillowman" dark (about a 9.7)? Or "In Bruges dark" (about a 4)?"
Well...your scale kind of confuses me if In Bruges is only a 4. I would think In Bruges is darker than that.
I think Hangmen is a less dark than In Bruges, but definitely more dark than The Cripple of Inishmaan. Overall, calling it dark is almost just a given considering it's McDonagh, but it's far from his darkest work.