When Mooney appears and starts flirting with Harry’s daughter, things go awry.
“I can’t draw a comparison really,” he reflects.
“They’re just two totally different animals.
Joan Marcus
I have to leave it up to the viewer to decide.”
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: This play has had a very roundabout journey to Broadway thanks to the pandemic.
How did you end up coming on board and and what appealed to you about it?
Joan Marcus
I’ve never felt like that when I came out of a theater.
So I put my name in the hat at that point to the people concerned, i.e.
It’s great to be able to be a part of this community.
Joan Marcus
No, I didn’t before.
We had a little chat about it afterwards, but not huge, really we were just catching up.
I hadn’t seen him in a long time.
It’s something that I wanted to come at from my own perspective rather than somebody else’s.
What through-lines would you sayHangmenshares with McDonagh’s other work?
Or what makes it different?
There’s so many.
He allows the issues to just bubble to the surface.
There is so much in there that that you could agree with or disagree with.
And you’re free to feel completely different to the person sitting next to you about the play.
That’s how I felt anyway when I came to see it, and that’s rare.
It’s one of the amazing things about theater in general.
But with Martin’s work specifically, he allows that and has the ability to do that.
[Laughs] It’s definitely a dark comedy, but it’s in a familial setting.
There’s a real lovely moment that happens.
And it just manages to balance everything out versus the morbid dark comedy.
you could also be lifted up with this play as well.
It has a thing for everyone.
That’s what makes it such a gorgeous thing to perform and to be part of and to watch.
No, not really.
Theater is the purest form of storytelling, really.
So I would say that it’s hard to draw comparisons.
Does it being your Broadway debut add a weight to it?
Is it intimidating at all?
It’s just being somewhere different.
I’ve only ever done theater in London, and this is in New York.
And it’s been true so far.
But in a good way.
Is there a different energy to doing theater in New York versus London?
I’m still trying to get to grips with that.
I haven’t been doing that when I’ve been in New York.
But I’m sure once I get my bearings a little bit, I will.
I would say the experience of being on stage is quite similar.
I haven’t done it to an English audience.
I’ve only been a part of the audience.
And that’s what’s amazing about theater is you get that immediate feedback.
What can you tell us about your character, Mooney?
He’s a product of a disciplinarian generation that went before him.
And that’s all I’ll say.
How would you describe the play in three words?
