Hangmen (play)

Hangmen takes place in 1965 in the UK. It centers around an executioner named Harry Wade. Harry is the second best hangman in the land, and he owns a pub with his wife, Alice, and his fifteen-year-old daughter, Shirley. Harry is forced to deal with the abolition of hangings, and the pub is filled with people who have various motives concerning Harry's profession. A stranger named Mooney comes to the pub and causes trouble, flirting with Harry's daughter to get under his skin. Mooney toys with Harry and makes Harry and Alice believe he has kidnapped and killed their daughter Shirley. This pushes Harry to hang Mooney illegally, which was Mooney's goal all along. The play ends with Harry dealing with the justification of the hanging he performed in the very beginning of the play.

Hangmen is written by playwright Martin McDonagh.[4] The play is set primarily in Oldham[5] during 1965[6] and centres around the abolition of the death penalty in the United Kingdom.[7] On 15 July 2015, it was announced by artistic director Vicky Featherstone,[8] that the play would receive its world premiere as part of the Royal Court Theatre's autumn 2015 season.[9] It marked McDonagh's first London play since 2003, when The Pillowman debuted at the National Theatre.[10] The play began previews on 10 September 2015,[11] with an official opening night on 18 September,[12] booking for a limited period until 10 October.[13]

The play is directed by Matthew Dunster, with fight direction by Kate Waters,[14] design by Anna Fleischle,[15] lighting design by Joshua Carr[16] and sound design by Ian Dickinson.[17] Following its premiere production the play transferred to the West End's Wyndham's Theatre, where it began previews on 1 December 2015, with its official opening night on 7 December,[18] booking until 5 March 2016.[19] A typical performance ran two hours and thirty minutes, including one interval.[12]

Hangmen was published by Faber and Faber on 17 September 2015[20] and received a National Theatre Live broadcast on 3 March 2016.[21]

An encore broadcast was shown at selected Vue Cinemas across the UK on 22 March 2016.

The Royal Court production transferred to Off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theater Company in New York from 18 January to 4 March 2018,[22] with original cast members Reece Shearsmith, Sally Rogers and Johnny Flynn returning.[23]

The play was scheduled to open on Broadway at the John Golden Theatre on 19 March 2020, but the run was cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic after thirteen previews.[24][25] In February 2022, it was announced that the play was once again scheduled to premiere at the John Golden Theatre on April 21 of that year, with previews beginning April 8. The production saw most of the 2020 cast return, with the exception of Dan Stevens as Mooney, Mark Addy as Harry and Ewen Bremner as Syd, replaced respectively by Alfie Allen, David Threlfall and Andy Nyman.[26]

The play has received positive reviews from critics.[28][29][30][31][32][33][34]

The show won for best play and best set design at the 2016 Laurence Olivier Awards as well as being nominated in the best director category. It also won best play and best designer at the Critics' Circle Theatre Awards 2015 [35] and best design at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2015.[36][37]