Set in 1960s England at the pub of the country's second-best hangman, Harry Wade. Hanging has just been abolished and the pub holds a young reporter, eager for Harry's opinion, as well as his usual alcoholic acolytes. There's the usual black humor and repartee in this play. I'm sure it's great on stage but it doesn't jump off the page with the same vigor as some of McDonagh's other scripts. ( )

"I run a pub an' 'e's chief 'angman! That in't borin', it's int'restin'."

Alice Wade sets the scene neatly with this quote. She runs a pub in Oldham with her husband, Harry, who has also served as a hangman. After a prelude in which we see Harry as hangman, the scene shifts to the pub on the day that hanging is abolished in the United Kingdom. Everyone wants to know what Harry thinks of the situation...with the possible exception of that strange fella who's just walked into the bar. What's he after?

I saw this play in its West End incarnation, after it had transferred to Wyndham's Theatre from the Royal Court. This is probably a play that's better seen than read, because the lines are much funnier when you have professional actors reading them. (For example, the scene in the second act involving "Smell my hair." This scene killed it in the stage production.) Still, even reading the text there were some laugh-out-loud moments, such as the part where Harry tells the convicted Hennessy that everyone knows he's a good lad, and Hennessy says, exasperated, "Well what are you fucking hanging me for then?!"

The comedy is more prevalent in the first half, with the story gradually darkening as the "vaguely menacing" Mooney comes to the fore and surprising developments play out. But lightness comes through at the end. I especially liked the relationship between Alice and her daughter, Shirley, and how it progressed over the course of the play. A thread or two is left unresolved, or not resolved in a manner that I was able to catch, but it is a very good play nonetheless. Recommended for those who want a different perspective on the 60s, like Northern English accents, or have enjoyed any of McDonagh's other plays or In Bruges. ( )