ACT Reviews 2022-2023 Season

HANGMEN by Martin McDonagh

Directed by Martin Cottam Blackburn Drama Club

This was my first trip to Blackburn Empire Theatre in several years, so I was very much looking forward to coming back. On arrival, I was made very welcome by the Front of House team, and it was lovely to hear this production described as “a play that everyone could get involved with” in these post-lockdown and restriction times. Certainly, the atmosphere among guests and volunteers alike was one of joy at being able to enjoy theatre together again. The play itself is not one with which I was familiar, so I did not know what to expect other than a “dark comedy”. Looking at the cast list I was impressed that a debuting director would choose something with such a large cast – 14 in total. The scene was (quite literally) set as the audience entered the auditorium, with Stephen Claxon (playing the cameo role of Hennessey) already on stage. The music was tense as we witnessed Hennessey preparing for his last moments of life, the despair fully apparent in his face and body language, noose hanging above his head. Stephen is to be commended for maintaining his character throughout – it must have been no easy feat to be on stage with no fellow actors to interact with and maintain the tension so effectively. The ensuing scene was a definite highlight of the whole production – tightly directed and choreographed so as to effectively maintain the tension while Hennessey delivered some of the funniest lines and actions of the play (the table grip for example managed to be both truly terrifying as the audience could fully empathise with Hennessey’s fear of his encroaching death, and yet bitingly funny in its comedic delivery), the tech team gave us perfectly timed sound (tolling bell, footsteps and the release of the trapdoor) and lighting effects causing the audience to jump and feel truly present at this historic moment and the cast all demonstrated