“No Man’s Land”

**** It has been a long time since I attended  Harold Pinter play, and in particular “No Man’s Land”, a story that is confusing to start with, but as the play progresses, the confusion becomes cleared up. This is a 4 character play, with two of them being the main focus. As the play opens, we meet Hirst ( deftly handled by  Jeff Perry) and Spooner (an incredible performance by Mark Ulrich). We are in what appears to be the Drawing Room. The home belongs to Hirst. He was out pubbing, met a poet of sorts, Spooner, and invited him back to his home for drinks, conversation, and a place to sleep it off. As they drink and talk, Spooner becomes more of a problem, saying things that could change the life of his host. It seems as if these two men, who are as different as can be, might have been acquainted years ago and perhaps have shared in some relationships.

This show, directed by Les Waters on a set designed by Andrew Boyce is quite “talky” and because they are English, they do have accents. I truly feel that people in the rear of the Steppenwolf Theatre may have lost some of the clever dialogue as the actors are not wearing microphones. I know that this theater has great acoustics, but I heard many people say that they missed some of the important words. Just a thought!

When Spooner says something to Hirst about his “manhood” and his wife, Hirst heaves a glass at his guest ( we were lucky as it hit the furniture and ended up in the audience) he yells “No man’s land..does not move..or change..or grow old and then falls to the ground, several times. Two of Hirst’s employees, Foster (Samuel Roukin) and Briggs (Jon Hudson Odom) come into the room and question Spooner in relation to what has been happening. Hirst comes back and the drinking and talking continue. Hirst talks about a dream that he has had, and Spooner claims that he was in fact the other party in the dream. Foster and Briggs take care to make sure that this “guest” cannot harm their employer and as they all leave the room, the lights are turned off and the door is locked, leaving Spooner, who is quite drunk in his chair.

As the second act opens, Spooner prepares to leave, but the door is still locked. Briggs enters with breakfast for their “guest”.  Briggs stands in the way of every movement made by their “guest” and when Hirst comes back in, he now speaks to Spooner as if they were old classmates and know each other very well. As they continue their discussion, it appears that Hirst recalls some things from his past that include this “guest” and may be more than he can handle. I prefer not to give away anything as the ending will surprise you ( after all, this is a Harold Pinter play). Remember that line that Hirst had in the first act? The one about No Man’s Land- you will now hear a version from Spooner and then the greatest last line to end a play!

On the technical side, the costumes ( Janice Pytel) were what one might expect in this period and place. The sound (Mikhail Fiksel) is fine ( with the exception that a mike would help) and the lighting Yi Zhao) is perfect. The play is two hours including the intermission and is truly not for youngsters, no matter how adult you might think they are. I would say that 13 should be a min. age. The content could bring a lot of questions.

“No Man’s Land” will continue in the Downstairs stage at Steppenwolf Theatre located at 1650 N. Halsted until August 20th with performances as follows:

Tuesday       8 p.m.

Wednesday  8 p.m.  On August 9th there will be a 2:30 performance and no evening( MASK required for this performance)

Thursday       8 p.m.

Fridays         8 p.m.

Saturdays    3 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Sundays       3 p.m.

Tickets start at $20 and can be purchase by calling 312-335-1650 or online at www.steppenwolf.org

ACCESSIBLE:

Open captioned  August 3rd  8 p.m. and August 12th at 3 p.m.

ASL Interpreted   August 11th  8 p.m.

Audio-described and touch tour  August 13th at 3 p.m. Touch Tour  1:30 p.m.

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click “No Man’s Land”.