A hand for Behanding

Went to see Martin McDonagh's new play last night, A Behanding in Spokane. Perhaps not a 'great' play, but it sure was a fun evening of theater. Christopher Walken is worth his weight in gold! Sam Rockwell was wonderful as well. Anthony Mackie was very good in a problematic role, and Zoe Kazan was the least satisfying of the performances overall.

I'd say see it, at least if you like McDonagh's work and have a taste for the unusual. It's twisted and cynical and dark and full of powerful images and work. Oh, and I didn't mention: it's also funny as hell.

Nice to see the theater staff jumping all over people using their cell phones just prior to the start of the show. they literally roamed the aisle's and told people point blank to turn them off. And I didn't hear one ring tone the whole time. When's the last time that happened?

Not for nothing, but I'm up to page 13 of 22. Creeping toward Babylon as it were. Oh, and I don't think I mentioned that I figured out how to burn a copy of the radio performance of Where the Rain Never Falls. It wasn't that hard, I just had to sit down and do it. The incentive was (name dropping alert) Bill Irwin. I see him at the Y all the time, and had mentioned the radio broadcast and subsequent archiving. Last week he said he was finally going to have a chance to listen and I told him it wasn't archived any longer . . . so I went home and figured out how to burn it. Next time I see him over there I'll drop it off to him (I make sure to take the disc with me when I go).

I also took the opportunity to tell him about Old Hickory. We commiserated about learning lines and I said 'At least I'm not learning Beckett' which was a reference to a solo piece I saw him do at the Classic Stage Company a long time ago, called Texts for Nothing. It was an amazing tour de force and set the bar pretty darn high!

So all's well. Eight weeks away from performance . . . about six weeks from now it'll start feeling oppressively near, but for right now it still seems sort of theoretical . . . theater is definitely the most fun you can have with your clothes on!