Having won an Oscar for his short film “Six Shooter,” and followed it up with the deeply brilliant “In Bruges” (which gets better and richer with every viewing and was nominated for a screenplay Oscar), Martin McDonagh is returning to the stage, where he made his name with black comedies like “The Lieutenant of Inishmore,” the dark and aggressively brilliant, “The Pillowman” and “The Beauty Queen of Leenane.”
His latest play, “A Behanding In Spokane,” is a four-hander (no pun intended…) about a man searching for his missing limb, two grifters in search of a quick buck and a curious hotel clerk, and will mark the first time McDonagh’s work has both premiered and been set in the U.S., opening at an unnamed Broadway theater (possibly the Schoenfeld Theater) on March 4.
Like his most recent play, “The Pillowman”, ‘Behanding’ will be directed by John Crowley (who, like the writer, has recently moved into film with “Boy A” and “Is Anybody There?”), and feature an all-star cast. Variety reports that Sam Rockwell and Chris Rock are likely to topline the play, along with Zoe Kazan (Leonardo DiCaprio’s mistress in “Revolutionary Road”), and an unnamed fourth actor. Stellar cast.
This is all pretty exciting news. Rockwell is one of our finest actors (his performance in “Moon” is maybe the best of the year so far, although sadly stands little chance of awards recognition), and is a perfect match for McDonagh’s writing, while Kazan’s had an impressive first few roles. The big question mark here is Chris Rock, who’s never managed to translate his stand-up charisma to film, where his performances have ranged from barely-passable to downright-awful. But maybe the stage is a more natural home for him? Either way, it’ll be worth keeping an eye on this, particularly as McDonagh suggested in an interview with Jeff Goldsmith on the Creative Screenwriting Podcasts that’ll it be some time before he returns to film. – Oliver Lyttlelton