I can only think of one actor to play the role of Carmichael, the twisted but somehow quite endearing central character in A Behanding in Spokane, now playing at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on West 45th Street. And the one actor I can think of, already has the role.
Christopher Walken is our main man in this bizarre but wickedly funny (in a very black humor kind of way) piece by playwright Martin McDonagh (The Lieutenant of Inishmore, The Pillowman) in his first American set play. How can I describe to you what this is all about?
Let's see, there's Carmichael, who has had one hand cut off in Spokane (thus the title.)
Carmichael is seeking the hand that was cut off, oh, somewhere in the neighborhood of 47 years ago.
He has spent his entire adult life going from town to town looking for it.
He comes across a couple who tell him they will get the hand. He kidnaps them in his hotel room and shoots at the young man (for whom he has disdain, since Carmichael is also a White supremacist and this young man is black.) He tries to blow them up.
They try to escape. (One inconsistency in the plot involves their escape plan and the phone that is easily accessible, which is not considered until later on in their desperation.)
There is a receptionist in the hotel who has a thing for monkeys and high school mass killings.
Not sure how much more to tell you. But you get my drift. It is indeed bizarre, but the piece unfolds and we come to understand that no one in this world is to be trusted, everyone is scamming everyone
else, and at the end of the day, we just want what's rightfully ours, even if it's an old shriveled hand.
Christopher Walken has a way with words. His phrasing, pacing, subtleties and inflections are pure Walken-esque. He is an actor's actor, and any student of theater should make it his or her business
to see this man prowl the stage.
Sam Rockwell, as the fleabag hotel's receptionist looking for some kind of violent action at the hotel to break up the boredom, does just fine as the character that could save the day, but chooses not to.
The couple, Anthony Mackie (Toby), who is currently in the Oscar winning Hurt Locker, and Zoe Kazan (Marilyn), play well together. Mackie's Toby has some of the best laugh out loud lines in the play, and as a man who sees his life being threatened by Carmichael, is very, very funny. My favorite: When told that he will learn something from this experience, he says "What post death lesson am I supposed to learn?"
Zoe Kazan does a nice job too as his girlfriend, although occasionally her high pitched delivery should have been tempered. That became a bit wearing.
Direction of this unusual piece by John Crowley was well done and kept the tension and the comedy in just the right place.
A Behanding in Spokane has a limited run through June 6th only. www.behandinginspokane.com
Hands down funny.
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