A Behanding in Spokane Paperback – June 9, 2011

Outrageously funny -- bizarre characters, bizarre circumstances, and very clever dialog. Some of the greatest comic moments come from when high-stakes situations run into very petty roadblocks -- e.g., a potentially gruesome murder gets derailed by a longer-than-expected phone call with Mom. This play had made me burst out laughing just from the words on the page, I can only imagine what it would be like staged.The only concern I have with the script is that the characters tend to repeat themselves a lot, especially to convey information to other characters who were offstage the first time the information came up. In a staged production, it would be important to vary the tone and intent of these re-tellings, so those bits stay interesting and don't just get repetitive.Also, reading about the originating cast, it is hard not to associate the character of Carmichael with Christopher Walken. You can easily imagine Walken's cadence running through every line of that character, and it might be tempting for other actors to just imitate Walken, rather than find the character afresh. I would recommend groups looking to put on this play to think hard about the kind of actor they want to cast in this part and the kind of performance they are seeking from it.All of that said, this play moves very fast, is very funny, and grips you from the opening scene to the end! Five stars.

A one-handed man is on a quest to find his lost hand, which he claims was cut off and stolen from him by a gang of "hillbillies." It's unknown what exactly he will do with said hand once he finds it, but he has a strong sense of ownership toward the hand, which, he points out, is categorically his after all.The play all takes place in a hotel room, where he is holding a young black man and his girlfriend hostage. Carmichael, the protagonist, is a brutal yet sensitive man who plans to kill without question the young couple who promised to deliver him his hand but failed to do so. He also has a suitcase full of hands, not his. His mother plays a comic part by phone. There's plenty of profanity and violence, either threatened or described. It's mildly entertaining, but it's not clear what the target of the author's satire is; or if the whole play is just an absurdist farce.The playwright is clearly indebted to the fiction of Flannery O'Connor. None of the characters can be called "realistic," although they would not be out of place in a Tarantino, David Lynch, or Coen Bros. movie; and the play's characters are perversely appealing in the same sense as some of the characters in those films. Unfortunately, the play never achieves the sublimity of those directors' best work nor Flannery O'Connor's.

I enjoyed it, and would buy more from this playwright. McDonaugh is an icon in the theatre of the grotesque genre, which is the reason I sought out this play. The quality of the paper is what you'd expect from Dramatists Play Service, which is to say that it's good. Love their prints.

What I was expecting was a novel. What I got was this screenplay/script, the bare bones.Well, that's what this guy does, it's his job. Was I deterred? No.However, in its sparseness, virtually just the spoken words, I found this to be more powerful. A cracking read for sure.I first read his "Three Billboards...." which I read because I'm a Frances McDormond fan and was waiting for the dvd release. Spurred on by that brought me to this. No regrets whatsoever.

love this play. funny and demented

This play has less reveals then most of McDonagh's other works, but it makes up for that with dark humor, interesting banter, and as always - high stakes.I've read all of McDonagh's plays and this one lives up to the rest. It's hard to give anything of his anything less than a 5 out of 5. Instead I am inclined only to give some of them a 6 or seven out of 5. Personally I think that McDonagh has raised the bar for all modern play-writes.

If you can tolerate the constant use of the "F" word, as well as some racial slurs, this is a fast moving dark comedy. It may be out of the mainstream for many community theatres but if you can find it, it's a fun ride. I only wish I could have seen Christopher Walken ("more cow bell") in the Broadway production.

Martin McDonagh's works are all humorous, but it must be understood that they are DARK, and VIOLENT. That being said, this play is a modern classic, as all of McDonagh's are. They're better seen onstage, but it helps to read this script BEFORE you see a live performance. Great stuff.

How does he think of his stories. The characters are so ridiculous but so for real

as brilliant as I expected it to be :)

This script is a laughter riot! It's one of the nest scripts I've read in a long time. The characters and both the story are so well connected and brilliantly written!