Great playwright, knighted actors unite for powerful show

There’s a holiday treat arriving Sunday for fans of British legends of the stage. Harold Pinter’s “No Man’s Land,” currently playing at London’s Wyndham’s Theatre, features two of the all-time greats: Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Patrick Stewart. Thanks to the National Theatre’s Live HD broadcasts and Macon’s Douglass Theatre, no airfare will be required to see these stage giants.

Pinter himself is beyond gifted, and the list of triumphs that have come from his pen (for example, “The Caretaker,” “The Birthday Party,” “The Dumb Waiter,” “The Hothouse,” “The Homecoming” and a dozen or so others) remain at the pinnacle of contemporary British theater.

“No Man’s Land,” drawing its title from the contested territory between the opposing forces in World War I, was written in 1974 and subsequently has been performed by several titans of the theater. McKellen and Stewart appeared in the current production on Broadway before it returned to the West End.

On the surface, this play deals with alcoholism and poetry, not an unlikely combination, and like much of Pinter’s best work, the plot is set in motion by the arrival of an interloper. Ambiguity soon abounds. The puzzle begins when, after an evening in a pub, two elderly men retire to the stately home of one and continue to carouse. Subsequently, two younger men arrive. Who are they? What is their relationship? Are they poets as well?

The title comes from the line, “He’s in no man’s land … which remains forever icy and silent.”

As the two knights in this production have grown older in actual life, at least one reviewer suggests that this may be the final opportunity to see this pair together on stage. Happily, Macon is one of two locations in Georgia where this opportunity can be seized.

Yes, there’s a merry Christmas awaiting theater fans at the Douglass.

This story was originally published December 15, 2016 at 7:07 AM with the headline "Great playwright, knighted actors unite for powerful show."