People are still executed for committing crimes in some places in the world, including here. In England, the preferred method for capital punishment was hanging, though it was officially banned in 1965 and effectively ended in 1969.
Before that, though, hanging people apparently took some skill. Harry Wade, the “second-best hangman in England,” is the focus of Irish playwright Martin McDonagh’s award-winning 2015 dark comedy “Hangmen,” at the Long Beach Playhouse through Sept. 26.
While the play’s characters are fictitious, they are inspired by real hangmen of the time and place, and a potential miscarriage of justice that helped lead to the abolition of capital punishment in England.
The play begins in 1963 with Harry hanging a man who proclaims his innocence right to the end and curses Harry for executing him anyway. Flash-forward to 1965 and Harry owns a pub with his wife and teenage daughter in the town of Oldham, where he is locally famous for being such a good hangman.
But the government has just abolished hanging that day, and everyone is eager to hear what Harry has to say about it — including a creepy stranger in town named Mooney.
Executive director Madison Mooney — no relation to the creepy stranger — said the Playhouse has staged a few of McDonagh’s plays over the years, including “The Pillowman” and “The Cripple of Inishmaan,” and locals love them.
“They always get great reviews from audiences and critics,” she said. “And his shows are perfect for our upstairs Studio Theatre, which has a reputation for shows with an edge.”
Sean Gray, the Playhouse’s artistic director, credits the playwright for creating a “corrosively funny black comedy,” as the theater describes it, played out over two days in a pub filled with dramatic tension among Harry’s friends, family, his disgruntled assistant, journalists and the menacing stranger.
“McDonagh’s talent for bringing a group of people together, putting them in a situation that guarantees tension and letting it play out with humor, tragedy and plenty of unexpected twists and turns is on full display,” Gray said.
Director Carl daSilva — who had also directed “The Pillowman” at the Playhouse two years ago — said “Hangmen” is “strikingly relevant” for us today.
“Who has the authority to decide guilt?” he says the play asks. “How much faith should we place in systems that are created and maintained by flawed human beings? And what happens to those whose identities are built upon institutions that no longer exist?”
The play’s cast includes recognizable actors from previous Playhouse shows, most notably Noah Wagner and Amanda Karr, who each shined in the theater’s stellar “The Lion in Winter” earlier this summer, along with Trevor Hart.
“’Hangmen’ is a perfect show for closing out the summer season,” Mooney said. “Audiences will laugh, gasp and find themselves thinking about it long after they leave the theater.”
“Hangmen” runs from Aug. 29 to Sept. 26 at the Long Beach Playhouse Studio Theatre, 5021 E. Anaheim St., with shows Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. For tickets, call the box office at 562-494-1014 or visit LBPlayhouse.org. Parking is free in a lot behind the theater.