NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE presents: HANGMEN
Image: Paul Toner in Sydney to deliver the petition with 130,000+ signatures to help keep Ali Choudhry in Australia. (Photo credit: Star Observer)
National Theatre Live has captured a performance of this award-winning English stage production in high definition and transformed it into a cinematic event for all movie-goers to experience on the big screen.
This comedy-thriller is primarily set in Oldham England in 1965, and the focal character is Harry, a middle-aged and married man with a 15-year-old daughter. Harry was a servant to the crown as a hangman until the death sentence was abolished – two years on he’s a publican, and his former profession is detailed in the newspaper, which becomes the catalyst to all the drama. A young menacing stranger enters the pub amongst suspicions of the hanging of an innocent man, when Harry’s daughter mysteriously disappears.
This is world-class, cutting-edge theatre, set primarily in a pub with an ensemble cast of English actors who deliver faultless performances playing vibrant characters led by David Morrissey as Harry.
Discussions arise concerning the justices and injustices of the penal system, alcoholism and racial slurs are intermittent. The darker elements surface through the comic sequences, revealing complexities in the characters which lead to a shocking eruption of emotions and actions on stage.
If movie-goers feel uncomfortable laughing in all the inappropriate places during this wildly funny and gripping black comedy, then this theatrical production has been a resounding success. (MMo)
****
Limited release, for participating cinemas go to: ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk
