Hangmen (Broadway) NYC Reviews and Tickets
About the Show
Production Covid-19 Safety ProtocolsShow-Score Member Reviews (285)
See it if you enjoy a thrilling play with unexpected twists, superb characters, great wit, tension, drama, large themes, small moments, etc. So Good!
Don't see it if you can't handle a British accent or have trouble with fairly graphic stories about death. You also need a developed sense of humor.
See it if Hilarious, clever and unpredictable black comedies are what make you laugh.
Don't see it if Black comedy leaves you stone-faced. Any violence turns you off. You get frustrated by occasionally difficult-to-understand Irish accents. Read more
See it if you like dark, off-beat comedies. A comedy about a hangman. Not run of the mill subject matter. Brilliant ensemble of actors. such a joy.
Don't see it if you have difficulty with extremely thick accents. It takes a while for the American ear to adjust.
See it if You want amazing acting, dark comedy, and interesting plot.
Don't see it if You prefer lighter productions or enjoy British humor.
See it if you like good acting, dark comedies, brilliant writing, and awesome scenic design. Lots of great elements to this show!
Don't see it if you have trouble understanding accents and don't enjoy dark humor. Read more
See it if You want to see a comedy British play with an excellent cast. Excellent set.
Don't see it if You prefer musicals
See it if You want to see a smartly written, expertly acted and directed play by a playwright who is a master writer of dark humor.
Don't see it if If dark, cutting humor is not your thing this may not be the right play for you. Read more
See it if Very dark humor is your bag
Don't see it if Gallows humor ain’t
Critic Reviews (21)
"'Hangmen' is a meticulously-plotted work containing eccentric characters and built upon elements of pub drama, physical farce, whodunit mystery, action thriller and legal drama – not to mention a noose and countless pints of cask ale."
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"Filled with funny dialogue and a plot that keeps you on your toes, 'Hangmen' flies by at two-and-a-half hours including intermission, but it is a little long for what the play ends up accomplishing, and McDonagh tends to let his characters talk in circles."
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Martin McDonagh has been specializing in his own brand of bloodstained comedy for a quarter of a century now, so it's probably inevitable that the blood might get a little tired. That's the main trouble with Hangmen, a relatively restrained -- for McDonagh -- thriller that, despite a juicy premise and some golden laughs, never delivers the electric charge of his best work. Notably, this is the first time the playwright can be caught recycling ideas from past works. It may be time for one of the theatre's master confidence men to replenish his bag of tricks.
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"The play requires taut and cohesive directing and a uniformity of style to hold it together. Here, it seems as though the actors have been left to their own devices to figure out their characters and how best to perform them. It takes a lot of work to pull things back together after a break of four years, and an ensemble work like this requires exquisite timing and consistency, elements that are, alas, in short supply."
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-"Mixing pitch black comedy with genuine terror, 'Hangman' reveals McDonagh at his most technically accomplished, although not his most profound. Overlong at nearly two-and-a-half hours, the play feels like an extended episode of 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents,' complete with twist ending. Despite its longueurs, however, it’s wonderfully entertaining, thanks to the playwright’s gift for acerbically funny and ever-surprising dialogue, the superb performances by its well-honed ensemble, and Matthew Dunster’s marvelous staging"
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"The first New York production of 'Hangmen 'had a creepier aura; this one—slickly directed by Matthew Dunster—leans more heavily into comedy, capitalizing on Threlfall’s purposely pompous puffed-chest, poker-faced delivery of the most wonderfully absurd lines"
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"in 'Hangmen,' McDonagh is engaging in an extended, two-and-a-half-hour riff on what life may have been like for a professional executioner. And what it seems to entail is joking about subjects that are considered taboo: capital punishment, violence against women, mental illness, death."
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While this comedy of menace is now less sinister than it was before without Johnny Flynn as the thuggish Peter Mooney, it is now funnier under the direction of Matthew Dunster who has staged all the productions of this play so far. The new cast also includes Tracie Bennett returning to Broadway for the first time since her 2021 award-winning performance as “Judy Garland” in End of the Rainbow. While there is still a good deal of violence in this play by the author of The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Lonesome West, The Pillowman and The Lieutenant of Inishmore, it may just be his most compassionate and humane play.
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