Hangmen review, Royal Court

It's 1963. In his prison cell Hennessy is shaking and weeping with fear. He is about to be hanged for a crime he vehemently denies committing, the murder of a girl on a beach. At the door, the nation's second-best hangman blanches as the smalltime villain whines: ''They could've at least sent Pierrepoint. Hung by a rubbish hangman, oh that's so me.'  As the final frenzy reaches its sad crescendo, Hennessy is told regretfully: 'If you'd have tried to relax, you could've been dead by now.'

The first act of Martin McDonagh's Hangmen sets the tone for the next two hours. When you're not on edge, you're laughing out loud at the detail in the dialogue. Act two sees us in Oldham. It is 1965. We're in Harry Wade's pub. Harry is the second-best hangman. Like his nemesis - the number one hangman, Albert Pierrepoint - he is a martinet publican who is out of a job because hanging has just been outlawed. Harry's full time behind the bar with wife, Alice, and mopey teenage daughter, Shirley. On the other side of the bar is the best pub cast since Only Fools and Horses - a dour police inspector and three alcoholic stooges, a show in themselves. So why is Hangmen so menacing - a mood cranked sharply upwards when Mooney, a moody, sneering young Londoner with Peter Noone looks who quotes Kierkegaard and Nietzsche, arrives?

Dark magic follows in Matthew Dunster's production. David Morrissey as Harry and Johnny Flynn as Mooney are razor sharp. Fine cameos include Reece Shearsmith as Harry's old assistant Syd, Bronwyn James as Shirley, Ralph Ineson as the Inspector, and Simon Rouse as Arthur - he is the Trigger of the piece. When Shirley disappears and Syd turns up at the pub still troubled by Hennessy's execution, tragedy is on the books. Syd points to an identical murder on the first anniversary of Hennesy's hanging. He thinks Mooney is the real killer. Is Shirley with Mooney? If yes, what has he done with her? To get answers, Harry returns to his old tricks. Do Hangmen do what they do because it comes naturally to them? If yes, who is more guilty of murder, the one-off criminal or the hangman? And who is the real killer - was it Hennessy or is it Mooney?  It might be either or it might be both because, as Harry remarks, 'That's the way it is with justice.'

In conclusion: A week ago in the Irish fishing village of Leeanne, I sat on the quay with my progeny remembering a brilliantly dark and funny play we'd seen at the Young Vic, The Beauty Queen of Leeanne. None of us could remember the writer. It was of course Martin McDonagh, who also created the unforgettable Pillowman. Now here's another of his that will stay in the mind forever.  The run sold out before it started on September 10, but it's worth phoning for returns on the day.

References
Hangmen, Royal Court Tickets

Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, London SW1        Run ends 10 October