Hangmen

19-22 November 2025 – at The Electric Theatre, Guildford. Hangmen by Martin McDonagh. 

“Pitch-perfect… this look back in sharp-eyed wonder at the grimmer side of the swinging Sixties doesn’t loosen its grip from start to finish. It’s perhaps the most line-by-line funny play London has seen in years.” – The Daily Telegraph

The last word in gallows humour. A killer comedy

It’s 1965 in some drab little corner of England, where Harry has the distinct honour of being both the second-best hangman in the land and the proud owner of a modest pub he lives above with his fretful wife, Alice, and teenage daughter, Shirley.

Capital punishment has just been outlawed, and a local journalist comes looking for a money quote from the man who once oversaw the eternal rest of several hundred souls, give or take.

Harry — blusteringly assured of both his moral fortitude and his rope skills — is more than happy to hold court. 

Chaos and the blackest of black humour ensues.

Winner: 2016 Olivier Award for Best New Play.

This amateur production of Hangmen is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd. on behalf of Samuel French Ltd