Review: 'Hang' Leaves You in Suspense

Debbie Tucker Green's "Hang" is a haunting meditation on vengeance and justice, played out in an interrogation room.

MJ Daly ("Witch") plays a woman who has been the victim of a horrendous crime. She is questioned by two detectives (Margaret Melozzi and Aaron Morris). We never learn their names; in the show program, they are referred to as One, Two, and Three.

The direction by Lynne Collinson (who appeared in last year's "Playhouse Creatures") is fluid, and the performances are all outstanding – especially Daly, who is particularly effective as a woman whose entire existence has been irreparably damaged. She gains our sympathy as she recalls the impact of the crime on her husband and her two young children.

The detectives make awkward conversation, bring her water to drink, and state their intention to make her feel comfortable. Their efforts are met with cynicism and outright hostility.

When we first see her, Daly is very static physically as she sits and stares at her inquisitors. It's easy to sense her holding on to a mass of unresolved emotions and waiting for the right time to vent them. When she does, the words shoot out of her mouth like daggers.

"I've been here before," the world-weary woman tells the detectives. "I know how this works."

Melozzi and Morris generate a fair amount of laughs as they unsuccessfully try to guide Daly through the process of choosing a punishment for her assailant, who is also never named. Eventually, the two detectives run through a list of possible methods of execution, including lethal injection, the electric chair, and hanging. The method that is selected is fairly obvious if you take note of the play's title.