No Man’s Land (Harold Pinter) – Brisbane Season
The Australian stage welcomes back theatre greats Peter Carroll and John Gaden in No Man’s Land, presented by Queensland Theatre Company and Sydney Theatre Company, at the Billy Brown Studio, Brisbane.
Presented by: Queensland Theatre Company and Sydney Theatre Company Venue (Brisbane Season): Bille Brown Studio, 78 Montague Rd South Brisbane Thursday, September 22, 2011
The Australian stage welcomes back theatre greats Peter Carroll and John Gaden in No Man’s Land, presented by Queensland Theatre Company and Sydney Theatre Company, at the Billy Brown Studio, Brisbane.
Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land is a poetic play that delights in the use of words and explores language, status, recollections and new revelations of past lives entwined, both professional and personal.
Set in the library living room of the upper-class London home of Hirst, a fading literary great (played by John Gaden), who plays host to meandering poet Spooner (played by Peter Carroll), a seemingly charming, well-versed vagabond.
Hirst and Spponer spend a liquor infused night in this library recalling dreams and memories that both taunt and tantalise at once leaving Hirst to feel he is “in the last lap of a race I had long forgotten to run”.
Set designer Robert Kemp did a beautiful job dressing the impressive library room (and well stocked liquor cabinet). The random lamps placed amongst the many books on the massive bookshelf were also a nice atmospheric touch.
Heading toward a bleak future that Hirst desperately tries to drown in a glass of scotch, he describes as a no man’s land “which never moves, which never changes, which never grows older, but which remains forever, icy and silent”.
However, the play is not all that bleak, with the quick wit and poetic charm of Spooner, mixed with the shocking profanity and comic relief of the two younger man servants in the form of Foster, self-serving and intimidating with his overt sexuality (played by Steven Rooke) and Briggs, a menacing thug come servant (played by Andrew Buchanan).
The play entwines the landmark Pinteresque motifs of memory, status, and sexuality throughout, and combined with poetic language, No Man’s Land is such a classic play one should really go to see it as part of their theatrical education.
Brisbane Season: 19 September to 22 October 2011Venue: Bille Brown Studio, 78 Montague Rd South Brisbane Bookings: www.queenslandtheatre.com.au or QTIX 136 246
Sydney Season: 28 November to 11 December 2011 Venue: Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House Bookings: sydneytheatre.com.au 02 9250 1777
