A Behanding at Spokane @ Profiles Theatre



I love Martin McDonagh. I saw The Lieutenant of Inishmore on Broadway & The Pillowman at Philadelphia’s Wilma Theatre. I have never seen a play from The Leenane Trilogy, but they have received enough acclaim to get props without my first-hand endorsement. The McDonagh I know creates an authentically heightened alternative world, presents a sincere farce that is genuinely funny, and uses heightened metaphors to create an authentically parallel world. This McDonagh tried to write from an American perspective and lost a lot of the qualities I had grown to love about his writing: this humor lacked a smart subtlety & was quipper than his previous writings. From the audience, there was genuine laughter as well as nervous laughter, but neither of these indicated a presence of genuinely humorous writing. McDonagh’s signature is his use of satirical but severely upfront violence with the purpose of transferring the play’s underlying moral. Somehow, he always makes the insane approachable, but that tendency was lost on this script & it just seemed bizarre without a direct intent. The play’s conflict centered around Carmichael, a degenerate trying to track down his hand that was stolen & semi-torturing a young, weed-dealing couple who claimed to have his hand for the dealing. The repeated sentiment that tortured Carmichael was the image of his attackers waving goodbye to him with his own hand. I had to assume this metaphor’s purpose was to communicate a commentary on the great loss of wanting something back that rightfully belongs to you. I do like that theme, but I remain unsure if that was McDonagh’s intended thought-provocation; that uncertainty does not speak well towards the quality of the script.

The Players

The quality of the cast made up for the flaws of the script. As Carmichael, Darrell W. Cox created & committed to a well-rounded but still intriguing central character. I saw him at Profiles in last season’s reasons to be pretty, and was very pleased with the complete & necessary physical transformation he made from that role. The ability to physically transform is a necessity for a member of an acting troupe, and I appreciate that Profiles is aware incorporating that reimagining into each production. As Marilyn & Toby, the weed-dealing couple held prisoner by Carmichael, Sara Greenfield & Levenix Riddle exhibited perfectly nuanced energy, excellent interaction with the text, and cleverly communicated comedic ability. As the front desk clerk Mervyn, Eric Burgher provided clean moments of punctuation during the overall production. His character unfolded throughout the script more than the others, and he was smart & subtle about delivering plot-punctuating moments of realization. This was a strongly cast ensemble piece with no weak link who acted with unadulterated commitment to their roles, and their performance quality alone makes this a show worth seeing.