HumDrum bring dark comedy of Hangmen to The Spring Arts Centre, Havant
It’s 1965 and capital punishment in the United Kingdom is coming to an end.
So, what is the country’s second-best hangman, Harry Wade, to do with himself, now?
Well, the first thing he does is give a newspaper-interview, bad-mouthing the country’s most well-known hangman, Albert Pierrepoint. Coinciding with this is the arrival, in town, of a very dubious character who seems to know more than he should about things that he shouldn’t and when the hangman’s daughter goes missing, things begin to look very, very black indeed for Harry.
Then, to add insult to his injury, Albert Pierrepoint takes exception to Harry’s interview and decides to pay a visit…
This is the premise for Martin McDonagh’s 2015 comedy, Hangmen, being performed by HumDrum at The Spring, Havant this week.
“Harry’s situation is as black as the comedy”, says director Caz Gilmore. “Martin McDonagh is known for his strangely- angled, somewhat bleak view on life and it’s certainly to the fore in this play, but that view is also hugely funny”.
Another of McDonagh’s plays performed by the company in 2012 – The Cripple of Inishmaan - was deemed “a winner” by The News critic, who highlighted the darkness of the humour.
“It was interesting watching the reactions of some of the cast to the use of language in the play. It’s very 1960s. Things they could say without batting an eyelid back then have come to be shudder-worthy today, so – be warned! You may hear things you don’t feel comfortable with. That doesn’t mean that McDonagh agrees with it or that we agree with it – it’s just the truth of the time”.
The company is now 33 years old and some of the cast of Hangmen have been HumDrummers since the beginning. This also means there are now second-generation HumDrummers, and the cast of Hangmen has three – Neil Butler, Neva Holm and Luke Stevens – whose HumDrum parents – Paul, Elspeth and Claire – have clocked up an impressive combined total of 62 years of treading the boards with the company. Paul and Claire also appear in Hangmen, with Paul actually manhandling his son to his own execution!
Tickets for the show are £15 and are available from The Spring box-office on 023 9247 2700 or online at thespring.co.uk/event/hangmen.
Performances are Wednesday to Saturday at 7.30pm with a matinee on the Saturday at 2.30pm.