(Alan Payne’s article appeared in the Derbyshire Times, 8/10; via Pam Green.)
A touring production of Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land, starring Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, gives audiences a chance to see two of our most celebrated actors in fine form.
It features an outstanding video projection designed by Nina Dunn. A wood, realistic in every detail, with leaves rustling in a breeze, dissolves to reveal a circular room in a plush country house. It’s a stunning device – reminiscent of the opening of Dante’s Inferno: ‘At the midpoint of the path through life, I found myself lost in a wood so dark, the way ahead was blotted out.’
Hirst (Stewart) and Spooner (McKellen) are elderly rather than middle-aged. Both are acutely conscious of past disappointments and betrayals.