Martin McDonagh’s new comedy Hangmen will play Broadway’s Golden Theatre for a strictly limited engagement this spring. The critically acclaimed production by the Royal Court Theatre/Atlantic Theater will run for twenty weeks, beginning previews on Friday, February 28 toward a Thursday, March 19, 2020 opening. Olivier Award nominee Matthew Dunster will direct the production that is scheduled to conclude its run on July 18, 2020. Casting will be announced shortly.
McDonaugh’s play, which is set in England 1965, explores the story of Britain’s (second-most) famous executioner and his question over what to do now that hanging has been abolished? “The simple answer is a lot more than he bargained for. In his small pub in the northern English town of Oldham, Harry is something of a local celebrity and the cub reporters and pub regulars are dying to hear Harry’s reaction to the news, while his old assistant Syd and the mysterious Mooney lurk with very different motives for their visit.”
An Academy Award and Olivier Award winner and Tony Award nominee, McDonaugh’s Broadway plays include The Beauty Queen of Leenane, A Skull in Connemara, The Lonesome West, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, The Cripple of Inishmaan, The Pillowman, and A Behanding in Spokane. His work on the motion picture Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri won Golden Globe Awards and BAFTA Awards for Best Picture and McDonagh’s screenplay. Other film work as writer/director include Seven Psychopaths, In Bruges, and Six Shooter (short film).
Hangmen enjoyed a sold out, critically acclaimed world premiere at London’s Royal Court Theatre in September 2015 before transferring to the West End’s Wyndham’s Theatre in 2016. It then went on to win the Olivier Award for Best Play.
The Broadway production of Hangmen features scenic and costume design by Olivier Award-winner Anna Fleischle, lighting design by Joshua Carr and sound design by Olivier Award winner Ian Dickinson.
Mark Robinson is the author of the two-volume encyclopedia The World of Musicals, The Disney Song Encyclopedia, and The Encyclopedia of Television Theme Songs. His latest book, Sitcommentary: The Television Comedies That Changed America, released on October 15. He maintains a theater and entertainment blog at markrobinsonwrites.com.