No Man's Land at Duke of York's

No Man's Land at Duke of York's

24 November, 2008
by: Dominick

In an adroit and beautifully acted play at the Duke of York's what emerges most strongly is the confusion and mutability of the players and the characters they inhabit. The hierarchy is clear: Michael Gambon's Hirst is the dominating figure in this single-set piece. He is owner of the house in which it happens, a father, poet and mostly in this show, drunkard.

Hirst is joined by three fellow men: David Bradley, as Spooner, possibly a tramp from nearby Hampstead Heath, David Walliams (showing a lot more understated poise than early reviews gave him credit for) as Foster, the youngster of the party, possibly related to Hirst, and Nick Dunning as the white-haired Briggs, the butler.

Pinter writes in two halves: the first act slowly sinks into a sea of drinking which may have begun for Hirst and Spooner in a pub from which they have staggered home.

In the second act each of this quartet appear – at breakfast – quite sober, and the tour-de-force is the contrast between the gradually dissolving evening of act one, and the bright opening of the new day.

But the smartness of turn-out is quickly undermined by the arrival of another whiskey bottle. And the minor players have their turn in the second act to wring out their own distresses. These, in their different ways, produce tortured speeches reflecting aspects of rootlessness.

It is profoundly fitting that the title phrase 'No Man's Land' occurs in the first act, and again as virtually the last words of this deservedly famous play.


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Dominick