''A Behanding in Spokane'' is a 2010

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to disc ...

by award-winning Irish/English

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

Martin McDonagh Martin Faranan McDonagh (; born 26 March 1970) is a British-Irish playwright, screenwriter, producer, and director. Born and brought up in London, he is the son of Irish parents. He is known as one of the most acclaimed modern playwrights whose ...

. It premiered at the

Schoenfeld Theatre The Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, formerly the Plymouth Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 236 West 45th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1917, the theater was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and was ...

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

in 2010. Set in the fictional town of Tarlington,

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

, this is McDonagh's first play that takes place in the United States.

Plot synopsis

A mysterious man named Carmichael has been searching for his missing left hand for 27 years. Two bickering lovebirds, Toby and Marilyn, claim to be in possession of his long-ago severed appendage, and look to collect the reward that Carmichael is offering for its return. An eccentric hotel clerk, Mervyn, gets in the middle of the transaction, and his presence threatens to spoil the proceedings.

Production

''A Behanding in Spokane'' opened on Broadway at the

on 15 February 2010 in previews, officially on 4 March 2010, and closed on 6 June 2010 after 108 performances." ''A Behanding in Spokane''
ibdb.com, accessed 8 May 2016 Directed by John Crowley, the cast featured

Christopher Walken Christopher Walken (born Ronald Walken; March 31, 1943) is an American actor. Prolific in film, television and on stage, Walken is the recipient of numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Awa ...

as Carmichael,

Sam Rockwell Sam Rockwell (born November 5, 1968) is an American actor. He is known for appearing in independent films and also as a character actor portraying a wide variety of roles both comedic and dramatic in films such as ''Lawn Dogs'' (1997 ...

as Mervyn,

Anthony Mackie Anthony Dwane Mackie (born September 23, 1978) is an American actor. Mackie made his acting debut starring in the semi-biographical drama film '' 8 Mile'' (2002). He was later nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Actor for his pe ...

as Toby and

Zoe Kazan Zoe Swicord Kazan (; born September 9, 1983) is an American actress, playwright, and screenwriter. She made her acting debut in the film ''Swordswallowers and Thin Men'' (2003) and later appeared in films such as '' The Savages'' (2007), ''Revol ...

as Marilyn."'A Behanding in Spokane' Broadway"
Playbill (vault), accessed 5 April 2016.Finkle, David

theatermania.com, 2 March 2010 This is the first play that McDonagh has set in the United States.Jones, Kenneth
"'A Behanding in Spokane', With Walken, Kazan, Mackie and Rockwell, Begins on Broadway"
Playbill, 15 February 2010

Critical response

Hilton Als Hilton Als (born 1960) is an American writer and theater critic. He is a teaching professor at the University of California, Berkeley, an associate professor of writing at Columbia University and a staff writer and theater critic for ''The New Yo ...

, reviewing for ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', wrote: "The play is engineered for success, and McDonagh’s stereotypical view of black maleness is a significant part of that engineering....McDonagh adds gag after gag to the show, as if he believed that comedy could cover up the real horror at its core: the fact that blackness is, for him, a Broadway prop, an easy way of establishing a hierarchy. Like any smart immigrant, McDonagh knows that by going after Toby’s otherness he becomes less of an outsider himself."

Ben Brantley Benjamin D. Brantley (born October 26, 1954) is an American theater critic, journalist, editor, publisher and writer. He served as the chief theater critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1996 to 2017, and as co-chief theater critic from 2017 to ...

, in his review for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' noted that the typical McDonagh characters "start to seem alarmingly like figures from a conventional Hollywood caper comedy about dopey, foul-mouthed crooks who keep tripping over themselves... If Mr. McDonagh hasn’t provided the kind of exhilarating, nasty fun house we have come to expect of him, we are at least allowed to spend shivery time in that shabby, scary labyrinth that exists behind Carmichael’s glassy forehead."

Awards and nominations

Walken was nominated for the 2010

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...

for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play, the 2010

Outer Critics Circle Award The Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on Broadway and Off-Broadway. They are presented by the Outer Critics Circle (OCC), the official organization of New York theater writers for out-of-town newsp ...

, Outstanding Actor in a Play, and the

Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. F ...

, Outstanding Actor in a Play. The play was nominated for the 2010 Drama League Award, Distinguished Production of a Play.
broadwayworld.com, 4 May 2010

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Behanding In Spokane, A 2010 plays Broadway plays Comedy plays Plays by Martin McDonagh Plays set in the United States