Pinter - yes, he was the ultimate playwright, Nobel prize winning, questioning and penetrating, a maker of art to change the world.
Brisbane audiences can see arguably his best work, featuring two of Australia’s theatre greats, Peter Carroll and John Gaden in No Man’s Land. This play tells the story of Hirst and Spooner, a couple of old mates, who are well beyond the prime of their lives. Hirst is a literature buff, and Spooner, a scruffy old poet, but they find common ground when they discuss literature, history and memories while downing a scotch or twelve.
Director Michael Gow said “No Man’s Land is a play that encompasses the best qualities of Pinter’s work – there’s the precisely sparse dialogue, the sense of menace, the wry humor and characters that refuse to be specific about their history or their intentions.”’
Essentially it is a play that explores the fickleness of memory, and the fact that the truth can very easily be lost.
Pinter wrote No Man’s Land midway through his career in 1975, he died in 2008 and at his request excerpts from No Man’s Land were read at his funeral. Clearly for this great man No Man’s Land was a favourite.