Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart are to reunite on stage this year in Harold Pinter’s masterpiece, No Man’s Land which will embark on a UK tour, opening in Sheffield from 3rd August, followed by dates in Newcastle, Brighton and Cardiff. The production will then head into London’s West End where it will play a limited 14-week engagement at the Wyndham’s Theatre from 8th September with opening night for press on 20th September. No Man’s Land was first performed at the iconic Wyndham’s Theatre in 1975 with Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, following its premiere at the National Theatre.
Directed by Sean Mathias, this production of No Man’s Land received highly acclaimed reviews at the Cort Theatre in New York whilst in repertory alongside Waiting for Godot, also starring stage and screen friends, McKellen and Stewart and directed by Mathias. The production of Waiting for Godot had transferred from London where it celebrated a sell-out run at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, the last time these masters of British theatre shared a West End stage.
One summer’s evening, two ageing writers, Hirst and Spooner, meet in a Hampstead pub and continue their drinking into the night at Hirst’s stately house nearby. As the pair become increasingly inebriated, and their stories increasingly unbelievable, the lively conversation soon turns into a revealing power game, further complicated by the return home of two sinister younger men.
Patrick Stewart (Hirst) says: “I saw the original production of No Man’s Land three times in one week at Wyndham’s Theatre and would have seen it more if I could have afforded the tickets. I made a promise to myself that one day I would play Spooner or Hirst but to be doing it back at Wyndham’s with Ian McKellen was a fantasy I never entertained.”
Ian McKellen (Spooner) says: “Playing Spooner to Patrick’s Hirst on Broadway was a constant joy, which is why I am delighted to be back with him in the West End.”
Further casting has yet to be announced.
See www.NoMansLandThePlay.com for more details.
