A Behanding in Spokane
| A Behanding in Spokane | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Martin McDonagh |
| Characters |
|
| Date premiered | February 15, 2010 |
| Place premiered | Schoenfeld Theatre, New York City, NY |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Dark comedy |
| Setting | "Hotel room, small town America" |
A Behanding in Spokane is a 2010 black comedy by award-winning Irish playwright Martin McDonagh. It premiered at the Schoenfeld Theatre on Broadway in New York. It is McDonagh's first play set in the United States.
Plot synopsis
Carmichael has been searching for his missing left hand for 27 years. Enter two bickering lovebirds with a hand to sell, and a hotel clerk with an aversion to gunfire.
Production
A Behanding in Spokane opened on Broadway at the Schoenfeld Theatre on 15 February 2010 in previews, officially on 4 March 2010, and closed on 6 June 2010 after 108 performances. Directed by John Crowley, the cast featured Christopher Walken as Carmichael, Sam Rockwell as Mervyn, Anthony Mackie as Toby and Zoe Kazan as Marilyn.[1][2] This is the first play that McDonagh has set in the United States.[3]
Reviews
Hilton Als, reviewing for The New Yorker, 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."[4]
- Brantley, Ben (5 March 2010). "Packing Heat, and a Grudge". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
Awards and nominations
Walken was nominated for the 2010 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play, the 2010 Outer Critics Circle Award, Outstanding Actor in a Play, and the Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Actor in a Play. The play was nominated for the 2010 Dram League Award, Distinguished Production of a Play.[1][5]
References
- 1 2 "'A Behanding in Spokane' Broadway" Playbill (vault), accessed 5 April 2016.
- ↑ Finkle, David. "Review" theatermania.com, 2 March 2010
- ↑ Jones, Kenneth. "'A Behanding in Spokane', With Walken, Kazan, Mackie and Rockwell, Begins on Broadway" Playbill, 15 February 2010
- ↑ Als, Hilton (15 March 2010). "The Theatre: Underhanded". The New Yorker 86 (4): 80–81. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
- ↑ broadwayworld.com, 4 May 2010
External links
- A Behanding in Spokane at the Internet Broadway Database
- A Behanding in Spokane at the Internet Broadway Database
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