In No Man's Land, two elderly writers, having met in a London pub, continue drinking and talking into the night. All might be well, until the return home of two younger men. Their relationships are exposed, with menace and hilarity, in one of Pinter's most entertaining plays.
No Man's Land is playing in rep with Waiting For Godot.
What is the Story of No Man’s Land?
Set in a stately house in Hampstead (presumably—in No Man’s Land, we’re never exactly sure what is what), upper-class writer Hirst invites his old college friend (or is he?) Spooner home for a drink. When Foster and Briggs—presumably Hirst’s bodyguards—appear, they insult Spooner and try to keep Hirst away from him. As Hirst becomes increasingly inebriated, he recognizes Spooner as an old classmate from Oxbridge, but as the duo swaps unbelievable stories, Hirst begins to expect Spooner is an imposter. In Pinter’s 1974 existential drama, Hirst and Spooner continue to drink and parry, falling deeper and deeper into the void they call No Man’s Land.
"These accomplished vets—two Brits, two legends, two knights—make a fine pair of performers, and it’s a joy to watch them work together, polished, sure, and at ease in their roles, playing off each other and clearly enjoying themselves. "
New York Observer
Jesse Oxfeld
"In this production, Stewart and McKellen play the roles they seem born to play. Stewart uses his noble profile and plummy voice to lend gravitas to Hirst, who springs to life in the second act to engage McKellen’s puckishly charming Spooner in a duel of wits."
Variety
Marilyn Stasio
"Being stuck in limbo has never been so magnetic."
New York Daily News
Joe Dziemianowicz
"In the absurdly enjoyable revivals of Harold Pinter’s ‘No Man’s Land’ and Samuel Beckett’s ‘Waiting for Godot,’ which opened in repertory on Sunday at the Cort Theatre, Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart make a most persuasive case for conversation as both the liveliest and loneliest of arts."
The New York Times
Ben Brantley