Profiles Mounts A Problematic "Behanding"

Reviewed by: Alex Huntsberger:

A Behanding in Spokane at Profiles Theatre starts off with a bang. Well, with a series of bangs. First, there's the banging on the closet door of the cramped, dingy motel room in which the play is set; then there's the bang of the gun that's fired through said door. It's a rousing way to begin the night and does an able job of foreshadowing what's to come: a play rife with limbs severed, lives endangered, vengeances plotted and the English language mangled to a pulp. However, when Behanding's 90 action-packed minutes come to an end, one is left feeling that the whole was not nearly equal to the sum of it's parts: or, to quote another, bloodier play, it was all sound and fury signifying nothing.

Rick Snyder's production aims to shock, and it creates an uneasy, claustrophobic atmosphere right from the start. The audience is seated alley style on either side of a motel room (pitch perfect set design by Thad Hallstein) that looks like its better days were still pretty hellish. As the play opens, we are introduced to Carmichael (Profiles Ensemble Member Darrell Cox) an odd, menacing man who's long ago suffered the titular behanding. Carmichael has spent the last 27 years of his life searching for that hand, and now he's waiting, while a pair two-bit drug dealers, Toby (Levenix Riddle) and Marilyn (Sara Greenfield) deliver him the promised goods. Soon it becomes clear that Carmichael is far more dangerous than either Toby and Marilyn bargained for and that their only hope for not dying horribly lies in the rambling, ex-speed freak hotel "receptionist" Mervyn (Ensemble Member Eric Burgher). To elaborate further would spoil numerous twists and surprises; moments of shock that were most of what the play had to offer.

The problems with A Behanding in Spokane start with the script. Playwright Martin McDonagh, a darling of the English stage, has made a nice career walking the line between violence and farce. His best works, like The Beauty Queen of Leenane or The Pillowman offer a balanced theatrical meal of sickening acts, trenchant humor and a nihilistic (but nonetheless thoughtful and profound) worldview. And while A Behanding certainly has the first two elements down pat, it's the third part that it gravely lacks. The play is nihilistic without being the least bit intelligent or interesting about it.

The script also suffers from the very distracting fact that McDonagh (an Anglo-Irishman) can't seem to write American characters. McDonagh's Irish plays become famous for their characters loopy west-country inflections. But what seemed to be a keen ear for dialogue now comes off more like a seriously irritating writer's tick. The actors in Profile's production appear to be stuck between delivering the dialogue in it's natural, un-Amrican inflection and working against the rhythm of the text to deliver something more normal sounding. The actors never quite figure out how to navigate that particular Scylla and Charybdis and end up somewhere in the middle: much of the McDonagh's lyrical humor doesn't quite land and the characters still don't seem genuinely American.

However, director Rick Snyder's pacing also proves incredibly problematic. This comes as a surprise since Snyder's Killer Joe for Profiles was a perfect calibrated tension builder, whereas a better part of A Behanding is dedicated to watching actors just stand and scream at each other. From the second Toby and Marilyn enter, the two of them are locked in a shouting match that would put cable news to shame. The lack of nuance or simple variation begins to numb the senses. And Greenfield in particular seems to be in danger of doing real damage to her voice.

Cox is intimidating as Carmichael and both he and Burgher nail the wonderful off beat nature of their characters. Cox in particular captures Carmichaels' obsessive nature, which turns him from a simple crazy man into something more noble: a low-rent Captain Ahab. But Cox is not enough of a comedic actor to make all of Carmichael's misplaced menace be funny as well as terrifying. It's all in the timing and Cox hasn't quite got it yet. Burgher also suffers from a timing problem: Mervyn's incessant stream-of-consciousness brain farting dribbles out of him at far to slow a pace. It kills of a lot of Mervyn's comedic momentum––his monologue in particular becoming a shaggy ramble instead of a wild careen.

Out of all the cast members, Riddle is best at making the script work. He slides right into McDonagh's rat-a-tat, repetitious back-and-forth and is able to say lines in genuine fear and still make them explosively funny. The cast on the whole is fine, they are all muddling through the same problematic script and each has their moment in the sun. For instance, Cox and Burgher are wonderful in the play's closing scene as the slower pacing allows their strengths to shine.

In the end, if you're looking for a fun night out, then A Behanding in Spokane might be for you. The play offers twists and turns and quips aplenty. But if you're expecting the best of what Snyder, Profiles or Martin McDonagh has to offer, then you will be left greatly disappointed.

Profiles Theatre, 4147 North Broadway, (773)549-1815. Through December 4.