February 22, 2010 12:00PM EST

A Behanding in Spokane

At the age of 27, Martin McDonagh had an unprecedented four plays running simultaneously in London’s West End; soon after, he stormed onto Broadway in 1998 with The Beauty Queen of Leenane, which earned him a Tony nomination for Best Play right out of the gate. Since then, the British playwright has kept audiences on edge with stories full of humor, wit, and quick bursts of sudden (and often shocking) violence. Set in western Ireland (aside from the The Pillowman, which chronicled an unnamed dystopian bureaucracy), his plays—including The Lonesome West, The Lieutentant of Inishmore, and The Cripple of Inishmaan—have introduced New York audiences to the cadence, peculiarities, and potent potcheen of the residents of County Galway and its nearby islands. Walking into a McDonagh play, you know you are in for an adrenaline rush, one vacillating between thrilling suspense and aggressive (and often politically incorrect) hilarity. It’s not your typical Broadway fare.

After his many plays exploring his parental homeland, McDonagh has moved across the pond with his latest offering, A Behanding in Spokane, currently in previews at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. Perhaps his forays into the film world—he wrote and directed both the Oscar-winning short film Six Shooter and the critically-acclaimed feature In Bruges (currently #185 on IMDb's top 250 list)—helped McDonagh attract the high-wattage cast now in previews at the Schoenfeld Theatre, which features four actors who are just as at home on the stage as they are on the silver screen. (At the helm is director John Crowley, who also knows a thing or two about celebs on Broadway: since working with McDonagh on The Pillowman, Crowley moved on to A Steady Rain, the recent two-hander starring Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman.)



Headlining is the iconic Christopher Walken), resplendent in a silky pageboy that signifies the kind of offbeat character we’ve come to expect from him on film (Pulp Fiction, The Deer Hunter, True Romance). His Carmichael is a racist misanthrope who has spent 47 years searching for the hand that was cut off and taken from him by a “bunch of hillbillies” in his Washington State hometown. (Thus the title: yes, “behanding” means just what you think it does.) It’s vintage Walken, and the audience at a recent matinee hung on his every (hilarious) word.

The action takes place in a rundown hotel room in an unnamed town. When we meet Carmichael, he’s in the middle of a hazy deal with a young couple, Toby (Anthony Mackie of The Hurt Locker) and Marilyn (Zoe Kazan, of the upcoming The Exploding Girl [TFF 2009]), who may or may not have a line on the whereabouts of his hand. Snooping around, seemingly with nothing to lose, is the hotel’s receptionist, Mervyn (Sam Rockwell, who garnered Oscar buzz for his star turn in last year’s Moon [also TFF 2009]). Mervyn is a parolee who just wants a little excitement in his life—Rockwell shines in a mid-play soliloquy that weaves together a love of gibbons, a regret that his high school did not suffer a mass shooting, and a recap of the dalliance with speed that led to his incarceration—even if it’s at the expense of others. sc

As the story unfolds, the audience is treated to a whip-fast (and funny) barrage of dialogue that takes off on the wild tangents characteristic of McDonagh—from pornographic magazines to a tree-climbing mother to the color of the afore-mentioned hillbillies—and contains more than a smattering of profanity and racial slurs. Giving away any more than this would be a crime, but suffice it to say, A Behanding in Spokane will satisfy not only veteran McDonagh fans, but also those who may be under the mistaken impression that Broadway is chronically stuffy and formal. McDonagh and his talented cast will set you straight.

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