It’s been discussed a hundred times over by intellectuals, playwrights, and critics. What exactly is Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land about? There’s never been a definitive answer, not even from Pinter himself. To be sure though, it is a memory play. Memory is actually one of the main ideas discussed amongst the characters within the play. This does little to clear things up, but it’s honestly part of what makes No Man’s Land such an interesting piece. It’s the type of play that beckons to be analyzed, and thanks to the National Theatre, now everyone can.
No Man’s Land such an interesting piece. It’s the type of play that beckons to be analyzed.
In this version, Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen try their hand at Pinter’s long debated material. It’s for this reason the show was probably even able to get staged in the first place. If neither of them know what the core concepts of No Man’s Land are, one would never know it. They both visibly seem to know the script like they’d know their own written memoir. The two headline the show as Hirst, an old quiet drunk, and Spooner, a self-acclaimed poet who never seems to stop rambling. Together they lead the audience on an escape that sits somewhere between real life and fantasy. They don’t answer any questions either, but they live in the environment Pinter constructed as though it’s normal.
The only simple part of the show is the set and the tech. Harold Pinter’s script dictated that most of what would happen onstage would be driven by the characters and their dialogue. The stage design is made up of a bland room with a few chairs and a liquor cabinet dressed with numerous spirits. There’s hardly any added effects to cue at all apart from switching the lights on or off. Everything is about the acting. There are two other characters who contribute to moving the plot, but most of the responsibility is placed in the hands of Stewart and McKellen. As expected, and in even in their old age, both veterans rise to the occasion in more ways than one. McKellen is charged with having most of the lines, especially in the beginning, making Stewart’s task to react. Things occasionally shift giving each of them the chance to draw the attention, each playing off one another as though they’ve worked together for years. Of course, they have been.
This not technically being comedic or dramatic, it’s fascinating how the actors are able to produce characteristics of both genres at different moments of the play. There’s no clearly defined conflict or objective, yet they’re able to emote at exceptional levels. Apart from the randomness of their situation, there’s nothing all that funny happening either and yet they’re still somehow able to generate laughs. Harold Pinter may not have handed the main idea to the audience on a silver platter, but it’s the acting that wins the day in No Man’s Land, and this was probably the point anyway. Keen to offer a take? See it on the National Theatre at Home online catalogue.
