Hangmen by Martin McDonagh, (July, 2024)
‘I’m just as good as bloody Pierrepoint.’ So says Harry, in his small pub in Oldham where he is something of a local celebrity. But what’s the second-best hangman in England to do on the day they’ve abolished hanging? Among the cub reporters and sycophantic pub regulars dying to hear Harry’s reaction to the news, a peculiar stranger lurks, with a very different motive for his visit, telling the regulars: ‘Don’t worry. I may have my quirks but I’m not an animal. Or am I? One for the courts to discuss.’
Set mostly in Harry’s Oldham pub in 1965, Martin McDonagh’s Hangmen premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London in September 2015. It received the 2016 Olivier Award for Best New Play, with the Daily Telegraph describing it as ‘Pitch perfect…Perhaps the most line-by-line funny play London has seen in years.’
Production team
- Director: Sean Baker
- Designer: Graham Waterhouse
- Wardrobe: Tracy James
- Production Manager: Chris Avery
- Hair & Make-up: Hannah Curtis
- ASM Props: Beth White
- Deputy Stage Manager: K-M White
- Lighting Designer: James Ireland
- Sound: Liam Baker
- Set Building: Roger Hall, Martin Avery & the Lolworth Team
- Technical Director: Alice Chernaik
- Hanging Coordinator: Leah Ward
- Photography: Paul Ashley & Sophie Wilson
- Poster & Programme: Sean Baker
- Publicity: Lucy Woodcock, James Dowson, Alex Priestley & Hannah Curtis
- Front of House: Alex Priestley
- Finance: Izzy Rees
Cast list
- Harry Wade: Julian Cooper
- Alice Wade: Helen Holgate
- Shirley Wade: Rebecca Williams
- Doctor/Mooney: James Inman
- Syd Armfield: Fergus Powell
- Derek Clegg: James Foster
- Inspector Fry: Ian James
- Prison Guard/Arthur: Tony Dutton
- Prison Guard/Charlie: Martin Hunt
- Prison Governor/Albert Pierrepoint: Peter Simmons
- Hennessy/Cafe owner/Pub customer: Craig Allan
- Bel: Tracy James