Hangmen

The latest in the NT Live series of cinema screenings of British stage productions available to Australian audiences through Sharmill Films, Hangmen is a black comedy that’s well worth seeing.

The story is set for the most part in a little northern pub run by Britain’s last official executioner, Harry Wade (clearly inspired by his real life counterpart Harry Allen, down to the bow tie), in the days immediately after the abolition of hanging. Much of the humour comes from Wade’s dogmatic attitude and his inability to see his own shortcomings, as he lords it over his regular customers, wife and daughter as if the pub is his own personal fiefdom, while regularly railing at his nemesis, head executioner Albert Pierrpoint.

Into this comic milieu arrives a stranger and suspicions are instantly aroused, though Wade’s daughter takes a liking to the fella. When she makes an appointment with him and fails to return home, some terrible fears are set in motion, resulting in horrible yet humorous consequences. It would spoil the story to say more – the very clever writing manages to skirt the borders of grimly serious implications, while still constantly finding sparks of humour, inherent in the characters and their interactions.

This is a well-directed play with excellent pacing and a terrific cast. David Morrisey as Harry created a solid characterisation of a priggish, arrogant man whose boisterous exterior hid his basic cowardice. The scary interloper, played by Johnny Flynn, was equal parts beguiling charm and underlying menace, while a special mention should be made of Wade’s daughter Jenny, with Bronwyn James delivering a wonderfully nuanced performance.

The only criticism to be made with this otherwise very enjoyable performance was the quality of the audio, which was intermittently dropping in quality throughout. Whether this was a miking problem during the recording, or a technical hitch on the part of Cinema Nova during playback, was not clear. In any case it was only a minor issue - nothing was inaudible – and should not deter anyone from going along to see this very funny, thought-provoking piece of theatre.

Alex Paige

Photographer: Helen Maybanks.