A behanding in Spokane

In describing A Behanding in Spokane, the adjective that comes up most among critics is “dark,” or “pitch black,” or more creative phrases like an “exercise in hilarious terror,” and “blood soaked black comedy.” Being this is a play about a man searching for his missing hand, the review headline jokes write themselves, like “A grabber of a dark comedy.”

It should also be no surprise that Christopher Walken, who probably knows dark and creepy better than any actor, has starred in A Behanding in Spokane, and made his return to Broadway with Behanding (one can also imagine him not even flinching when being pitched this play to star in: “Okay, you play a guy with one hand who’s been looking for his hand for many years, but it’s a comedy!”).

Bloody Fun

A Behanding in Spokane is the first American play from Irish playwright Martin McDonagh, who has developed quite a reputation for darkly funny, controversial and bloody stories. McDonagh first came to attention for winning the Critics Circle Theater Award for Most Promising Playwright in 1996.

McDonagh wrote two trilogies, The Leename Trilogy, which featured the stories The Beauty Queen of Leenane, A Skull in Connemara, and The Lonesome West. The next trilogy was The Aran Islands Trilogy, which included the stories The Cripple of Inishmaan, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, and The Banshees of Inisheer.

Next came The Pillowman which debuted in 2003, won a Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play, and was nominated for a Tony for Best New Play. McDonagh also wrote a radio play, The Tale of the Wolf and the Woodcutter.

McDonagh also made a short film, Six Shooter, and he won the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. Next followed his first full-length movie, In Bruges, which was nominated for a Best Screenplay Academy Award and starred Colin Farrell, Ralph Fiennes, and Brendan Gleeson. He is also working on a musical with Tom Waits, and has another planned screenplay called Seven Psychopaths.