'The Hand': a dark comedy that leans towards gray.

The hand (originally titled En behanding in Spokane) is the first work set in the United States by the Irishman Martin McDonagh, an author we discovered in 1999 thanks to Mario Gas and that theatrical gem called Leenane's beauty queen. Eight years ago, La Villarroel also presented The Connemara SkullPremiered on Broadway in 2010 with Christopher Walken and Elia Kazan's granddaughter (Zoe Kazan) in the cast, The hand It's a dark comedy like The skullBut somewhat more absurd and less entertaining.

In a seedy hotel room in the American heartland, a fat man dressed like a character from westernCarmichael (Pol López) awaits a pair of drug dealers (Mia Sala-Patau and Soribah Ceesay). The young couple must deliver to him the hand that was taken from him twenty-seven years ago and which he has never stopped searching for, because it belongs to him. A receptionist (Albert Prat) in shorts, a jacket, and a bellboy hat (and a great friend of monkeys) interrupts a transaction that doesn't look like it will end well.

This dark comedy, therefore, plays in the realm of an improbable story that must be believable. Believable in the sense that the audience enters into the convention with the characters and expects to see how events unfold. The play doesn't shine for its language, which, as the author has said, aims to portray the real speech patterns of foolish and foul-mouthed characters, but it is from this language that the humor that envelops the performance arises.

Interpretive Differences

The violence that characterizes McDonagh's works—and which, for some, links him to Tarantino—lies less in the gunshot itself and more in the tense atmosphere of what is to come, an atmosphere that should permeate the audience. And this doesn't happen. The problem lies in the differences in performance between the veteran and younger actors. The former know how to accentuate the characters and give them substance, but the younger ones do what they can with shouting, wailing, and tantrums, without any guidance from the director to break free from stereotypes.

Between absurdity and comedy, between fable and realism, Pau Carrió's direction is schematic and neglects the credibility and dramatic effectiveness of the actions (such as the scuffle with the limbs). However, the play reveals itself for what it truly is: a B-side from the author of The Pillow Man (The pillowman) and acclaimed filmmaker (Three billboards on the outskirts, Souls in sorrow in Inisherin).