Get excited theatre, sci-fi and X-Men buffs, because Sir Ian McKellen (The Dresser) and Patrick Stewart (Green Room) will be making their way to a town near you later in 2016 with a UK tour of Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land. With only a handful of stop offs along the way and two of the biggest names in elderly gent genius you might want to move quickly to secure tickets before they’re all beamed up, magnetised or ENGAGED to smithereens.
Tour dates
Wednesday 3rd – Saturday 13th August 2016 – Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield – 01142 496000
Monday 15th – Saturday 20th August 2016 – Theatre Royal, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne – 08448 112121
Monday 22nd – Saturday 27th August 2016 – Theatre Royal, Brighton – 0844 871 7650
Monday 29th August – Saturday 3rd September 2016 – New Theatre, Cardiff – 02920 878889 (visit our what’s on in Cardiff page for more information on the New Theatre, Cardiff run)
Thursday 8th September – Saturday 17 December 2016 – Wyndham’s Theatre, London – 0844 482 5120
Tickets
Tickets are available to order from the box office on the numbers above and ticket prices range from £11 to £65, depending on how good a view you go for. Mid week matinees are your best chance of getting less expensive tickets. Prices vary quite a lot by theatre, but with only six legs in the UK tour you don’t really have too much room to be choosy.
Story
Harold Pinter’s absurdist play, No Man’s Land, tells the story of two writers in their sixties, Spooner and Hirst, who meet in a pub in Hamstead Heath and strike up a conversation that goes on well into the night. They continue the exchange of wild stories and anecdotes back at Spooner’s mansion in the vicinity of the pub, getting drunker and drunker as the night goes on.
Upon arrival at Hirst’s sizeable house, they’re joined by his apprentice and housekeeper John “Jack” Foster and personal servant Briggs. Things get more outrageous as the evening plays out and leads on into the morning as half-revelations, a power game of wits and confounded introspection stir the household.
Cast
At the moment, the only cast members announced for the play are Ian McKellen as Spooner and Patrick Stewart as Hirst, who’s last stage outing was the Broadway production of Waiting For Godot, which was part of a double bill with No Man’s Land. There aren’t that many characters in the play, so there won’t be many more names announced, but it will be interesting to see who they confirm to play Foster and Briggs.
Production
Harold Pinter wrote the play in 1974 and it went on have its West End debut at the Old Vic Theatre a year later with John Gielgud . The new production is being directed by Sean Matthias, who worked with McKellen and Stewart in Waiting For Godot in 2009. Stephen Brimson Lewis is the designer, Peter Kaczorowski is the lighting designer and Anne McNulty is the casting director.
First impressions
This is one of the year’s must see plays, following it’s earlier Broadway stint, and the No Man’s Land UK tour means that you won’t have too far to go to catch it. Tickets are going fast though, so you’ll need to take things up to warp speed to get your cheeks on a seat in time to see the two great actors in this fascinating, funny and challenging play.
Shame you think Scotland is a wasteland not fit for any culture