The Good Lord created Christopher Walken, and saw that he was good. When asked, “Lord, will you create another?” She said, “Nah” and walked away.

Remember the first time we saw him, as Annie Hall’s creepy brother, Duane? “Sometimes when I’m driving…on the road at night…I see two headlights coming towards me. Fast. I have this sudden impulse to turn the wheel quickly, head-on into the oncoming car.”

So now, Duane is all grown up, and he’s morphed into Carmichael, the semi-sinister lead character in A Behanding In Spokane. He tells a wild story of losing his hand after a gang of hillbilly bullies force him to let a train run over it. He’s spent the rest of his life trying to recover it, which has led him to this moment. He’s in an astoundingly shabby room in a decrepit hotel, with a suitcase, a gun, and a terrified man in a closet.

His hair is long, unkempt, and gray. He wears a black overcoat, which has seen better days. He looks out, way out in the distance, in the direction of the audience, and we know. The King of the Deadpan is in the house.

A good thing, too, because this latest addition to the Theater Of The Absurd lexicon just squeaks by when it comes to entertainment value. Author Martin McDonagh has done Trapped In An Awful Situation much better with his award winning Pillowman, which was both funnier and more horrific. He sometimes seems to have a tin ear for American idioms; no one says “out East,” for example. The phrase is “back East.”

For me, the laughs weren’t in the dialogue or the action, but in the way the actors interpretated the script. Sorry, but there’s no way I’m going to join the crowd in finding gasoline being dumped on a person a laff riot. But Walken, speaking in an exaggerated Irish brogue to his mother on the phone, is funny. Walken inspecting a dessicated hand, and tossing it out the window is funny, even to Sam Rockwell, who could barely keep a straight face. (Are there hijinks of this type every night? That I’d like to see). Zoe Kazan (above), in the Alison Pill/Ellen Page role of Marilyn, the skanky girl, is funny when she’s trying to play flirtatious to further her own agenda.

This is Kazan’s best work to date, largely because of the wonderful chemistry she shares with Anthony Mackie (in photo above with Kazan and Walken) as her boyfriend, Toby. There seems to be no limit to Mackie’s range as an actor, and even when he’s ready to throw his girlfriend under the bus to save himself, Toby comes across as sympathetic. This actor has great charisma. Get me a young Will Smith!

As for Rockwell (with Walken, above), I think he’s one of the most underrated actors in America. As Mervyn, the crazy guy who firmly tells us he is not a receptionist or an operator, even though he’s clearly both, Rockwell is always interesting, sometimes scary, and very entertaining. (To see Rockwell at his comedy best, rent the DVD of Galaxy Quest).

You can’t ask too many questions about the storyline or the logic. Why don’t the kids just use the telephone when they’re held captive? Why don’t they just leave when they can? This is more a series of monologues than a play. And there’s enough foul language to make David Mamet bite his knuckles in envy. The “n word,” the “f bomb,” an offensive term for homosexuals, all abound.

The show is 90 minutes long, without an intermission, so feel free to use this as an excuse to leave Grammy at home, no matter how much she begs to see Christopher Walken.

The run ends on June 6.

A Behanding In Spokane
Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre
236 West 45th Street
Telecharge.com
212-239-6200
www.BehandinginSpokane.com
Walken has been nominated for a slew of awards, including the Tony, for his performance. The play runs through June 6th.

Michall Jeffers is an accomplished Cultural Journalist, and an unrepentant Foodie. She writes extensively, both in print and online. Her eponymous cable TV show is syndicated throughout the tri-state area, and features celebrity interviews, reviews, and commentary. She is a voting member of Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, American Theatre Critics Association, International Association of Theatre Critics, Dance Critics Association, and National Book Critics Circle. michalljeffers@verizon.net. michalljeffers.com