No Man's Land
There have been several notable productions of mysterious and poetic 1975 play, some starring, or directed by, Pinter himself. , currently at the Duke of York's Theatre in London, is a worthy addition to the list. Michael Gambon plays a drunken man of letters (Hirst) who arrives home one night in the company of a shabby, garrulous man (David Bradley as Spooner).
David Bradley and Michael Gambon, photograph by Jeremy Whelehan
What follows is Spooner's rambling meditation upon his and Hirst's lives, a fluent and fantastical series of digressions that largely meet with silence on the part of Hirst. This may sound rather dull, but in the hands of Bradley and Gambon it is very funny - the misty-eyed nostalgia of one contrasting with the stony indifference of the other to anything but whiskey. Hirst's impassivity disappears, however, as he remembers a fragment of his past, which seems to cause him terrible pain. The act finishes with the arrival of two men - Hirst's butler (Nick Dunning as Briggs) and secretary (David Walliams as Foster) who lock Spooner in the room overnight.
This behaviour must sound sinister, and certainly the way that Foster and Briggs stand about in this and other scenes looks like it is intended to be menacing, but they can't quite manage it. I wish that people would stop casting David Walliams in these sorts of roles - he's a good actor, but this was like Capturing Mary all over again; I just didn't find him at all threatening.
Despite these reservations, however, the second act has more fizz than the first, particularly the hilarious scene where Hirst confuses Spooner with somebody he knew at Oxford (intentionally or not), only for Spooner to join in the game with gusto. The final scene where Spooner attempts to break into this bleak group of men who inhabit a frozen emotional landscape is intensely moving. No Man's Land is a stark, melancholy play about memory and the traps that life sets for us, but it also has moments of humour and tenderness. Although the play is sometimes baffling, the language is a constant joy - sharp and illuminating. Pinter mixes poetry and the cadences of ordinary speech as few other playwrights can, and Michael Gambon and David Bradley do their parts brilliant justice.
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