Movie Review: National Theatre Live's 'No Man's Land'

Rosie Fiore was bowled over by the chance to see acting giants bring a Pinter play to life on the big screen

In their tour de force performances in Sean Matthias's revival of Harold Pinter's No Man's Land, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen are at the height of their powers. This is an occasion where I believe the National Theatre (NT) Live film version is perhaps even better than the chance to see a show live. 

Seeing it on screen puts you right onstage with two of the greatest actors of our time, together with two fine supporting cast members, catching every nuance, reaction and whisper. And you get a filmed Q&A with the cast and director thrown in after the curtain comes down.

story_article_left1

In this, the cast members speak about the importance of the audience and how each performance is unique, fuelled by the moments they share onstage and the audience reactions.

There are many small delights to observe in this performance - a smashed glass, a spilt cup of coffee, sideways glances and unexpected laughs.

No Man's Land takes place in the home of Hirst (Stewart), a successful "man of letters". He's been to the pub and returns trailing another writer, the down-at-heel Spooner (McKellen), whom he has invited back for a drink. And drink they do, continuously, for the rest of the play.

Their interaction is interrupted by Hirst's two "minders" (Are they servants? Apprentices? This is never made clear), Briggs (Owen Teale) and Foster (Damien Molony), who react to Spooner's unexplained presence with distrust and menace.

Stephen Brimson Lewis's set is evocative and intriguing - a seeming closed circle with only one door. It is both luxurious and stark, a prison and a gladiatorial arena. The characters are trapped in this space, veering from truth to lies, story-telling to confusion.

As Hirst says to Spooner and then Spooner repeats to Hirst: "You are in no-man's-land. Which never moves, which never changes, which never grows older, but which remains forever icy and silent."

In the trailer shown before the film, Molony talks about how, at any given point, one character holds the power on stage. The drama comes when the power shifts. The cast works so seamlessly together that these shifts in power are somehow deeply shocking. McKel-len particularly has the ability to move from obsequious uncertainty to smiling menace in a heartbeat.

WATCH the trailer for the National Theatre Live version of No Man's Land

"How can you write a happy play?" Pinter said in an interview a year before his death in 2008. "Drama is about conflict and degrees of perturbation, disarray." This is palpably evident in No Man's Land.

If you're looking for a laugh a minute or an easy evening's entertainment, go for a Hollywood blockbuster instead. If, however, you want to see two giants of the theatre in a simply perfect, layered production which has delighted audiences across the globe, come right in.

RATING: 5/5 stars

• The NT Live film of 'No Man's Land' will have limited screenings at Cinema Nouveau in Cape Town, Durban, Joburg and Pretoria from Saturday, January 21 2017.