I loved reading your reviews. I wish it was one of those plays which are transferred to the cinema (like The Hard Problem) then I could go and see it.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts Ellie, i'm seeing it tomorrow afternoon and i'm so excited. Unfortunately i won't be able to 'stage door' as i have to dash off straight afterwards (my daughter's godmother's 50th birthday party).

(Will post my thoughts about the play probably on Sunday :))

Thank you Becca and Ellie, for sharing your NML experiences! Very happy to see the first votes in our poll too.

Congrats on your stage door photos! I'd love to see them, if you felt like sharing in this topic 

Awesome that you also saw the Q & A Becca, and great to hear about it. In the BBC Radio Newcastle interview Damien mentioned how generous Ian and Patrick were and also that he'd like to play Spooner in a future incarnation of the play.

Ellie, that is interesting about Damien's voice! And thank you for the detail on his costume change. It has been years since I read it, but my impression of the play (as a text) was that it was beautifully written, the language is sumptuous, absolutely hilarious in places, but with on overriding feeling of profound sadness, from the unfolding story around Hirst. It is an absurdist play so possibly not to be literally understood in a beginning middle and end kind of way, but maybe more felt by the impression it leaves.

Thank you for mentioning the forum, it's really lovely you felt comfortable to do so. What a treat Damien sent love to all the forumers!

 

We were told to wait in a queue and the actors would come to us; I was half way down the queue when I noticed a figure come out and go straight towards the waiting cars. As I said, I yelled! He was the first out and seemed totally unprepared. Sir Ian and Owen Teale stayed for ages, working the crowd well, but Damien just left after he had signed a few autographs. Shame he didn't stay to watch how the masters did it. It helps improve popularity no end!

I saw the play yesterday afternoon.

First Pinter play, didn't know what to expect and i know a lot of people have said that they didn't know what the play was about and that it was subjective to interpretation so i kept an open mind. To be brutally honest, I didn't follow the plot (such as there was one), i just watched the performances and they were tremendous, all four of them. It was most definitely not a two hander, every one of them held their own.

Ellie, i completely agree with your interpretation of the characters, that's how i saw them. Hirst was tragic, Spooner was a chancer and Briggs and Foster were more determined to keep the status quo and their comfortable lifestyles. The pair of them were definitely freezing Spooner out becoming more apparent in the second act.

All four of them were amazing. The performance was packed out, there was not a seat to be had in the house (apart from panto, this was the first time i'd witnessed this myself in the Theatre Royal) and i could not take my eyes off the stage (I could see the stage quite well from my nosebleed seat but it would've been a different story if i'd had been in the seats to my left). I thought Damien was stunning in his own right, now i've only seen him on stage three times (Travelling Light, The Hard Problem and this...i so wanted to see The Body of An American but couldn't make it happen) and very easily this has been his finest performance to date, i think being part of this auspicious ensemble has really made him up his A game. He was bright, camp with a thread of violent and yes, his voice was higher pitched than normal and there was not a trace of his natural accent in that cockney wide-boy accent of Foster's. Really, really excellent.

At the end, they all received rapturous applause and someone at the front of the stage gave the two sirs bouquets of roses, white for Sir Patrick (Yorkshire man i believe) and red for Sir Ian (Lancastrian i know) and Sir Ian gave Damien a single red rose from the bouquet. Damien looked touched and smiled when we all went 'awww'. Sir Patrick did the same for Owen. I don't know if this was a spontaneous thing or they do it at every performance? Curious minds would love to know?

As I said in an earlier post, i didn't stage door, i was dashing off home to get ready for my daughter's Godmother's 50th birthday party (a fab night was had by all) but it was pouring with rain when i emerged from the Theatre Royal so perhaps they wouldn't have stuck around to sign (or if they did, not for long, it was really pouring down)

So the reviews i've read in my local press were spot on for me. It was funny, there was an aura of danger (mainly from the Briggs and Foster characters) and yes there was tragedy. Damien's finest role to date for me. I'm hoping it'll be the launchpad for even greater things for him in the future :)

 

A well considered and interesting No Man's Land review from the Chichester Observer!

 

Review: No Man’s Land (Theatre Royal, Brighton, until Saturday, August 27)

 

On Damien and Owen Teale

Damien Molony and Owen Teale as Foster and Briggs stay just on the right side of being threatening – are they staff, family, lovers or jailers? Often coming across as bullies, they reveal themselves as educated and eloquent in their own ways, and perhaps there is no escape for them either.

On the play (yes!)

By the end we continue wondering if this no man’s land is a place of limbo between life and death, or a dreamlike state between waking and sleeping, or a place between battlegrounds. And are the characters individuals with uncertain memories or aspects of each other?



Read more here

 

Another excellent review, from Gscene Magazine!

REVIEW: No Man’s Land @ Theatre Royal

"Damien Molony as Foster and Owen Teale as Briggs are perfect in their dodgy weird codependent relationship with Teales in particular leaning into the laughs and bringing some light relief to his threatening, looming presence. Molony’s Foster is the picture of charming menace, visceral and mercurial, and his performance – like all the acting this evening – was superb. What an utterly perfect cast."

Read more here

FIFI! So delighted for you! Thank you for your wonderful review, all excellent but the last paragraph has me grinning from ear to ear:

fifi wrote:

But from the moment that Foster burst through the door and onto the stage, Damien completely owned his character.  I agree entirely with what everyone else has said...this was absolutely an ensemble piece with Damien easily holding his own in such esteemed company.  Yes his arrival introduces an element of menace - threat even.....but also a shot of energy and vitality - of youth!  This vitality coupled with his self assurance and decidely flashier costume meant - for me at least - he absolutely dominated the stage with his presence at times.  His voice/accent did cause me to smile - it reminded me a lot of Raven!

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Just got home from watching No Man's Land - loved it! I didn't know the play, so had no idea what to expect but I was sucked in right away (don't think I 'understood' it, but loved it anyway).

The Q&A afterwards was great too; most of the Q's were for Sirs Ian and Patrick, but someone did ask how Damien and Owen Teale came to be cast. Apparently the director, Sean Mathias, had worked with Owen on a play before, but Damien had to audition. The director recognised him as Flight from Ripper Street and said "Oh my God, I'm in love with you!" Damien looked a tiny bit embarrassed at that anecdote, but there was a good reaction from the audience!

It was super crowded at the stage door, but I did manage to get Damien to sign my programme! Was too late for Ian McKellan, didn't see Patrick Stewart and was too excited from having (very briefly) met Damien to pursue Owen Teale. It was too busy to ask any questions or take pictures at the stage door, but I did manage to sneak a few pictures of the Q&A, which I will post here later if that's okay?

Aradia Zavion wrote:

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Just got home from watching No Man's Land - loved it! I didn't know the play, so had no idea what to expect but I was sucked in right away (don't think I 'understood' it, but loved it anyway).

The Q&A afterwards was great too; most of the Q's were for Sirs Ian and Patrick, but someone did ask how Damien and Owen Teale came to be cast. Apparently the director, Sean Mathias, had worked with Owen on a play before, but Damien had to audition. The director recognised him as Flight from Ripper Street and said "Oh my God, I'm in love with you!" Damien looked a tiny bit embarrassed at that anecdote, but there was a good reaction from the audience!

It was super crowded at the stage door, but I did manage to get Damien to sign my programme! Was too late for Ian McKellan, didn't see Patrick Stewart and was too excited from having (very briefly) met Damien to pursue Owen Teale. It was too busy to ask any questions or take pictures at the stage door, but I did manage to sneak a few pictures of the Q&A, which I will post here later if that's okay?

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 Hi Aradia, great to hear your thoughts on the play  - thanks so much for sharing. It seems to be a play that is meant to be more experienced / felt than understood intellectually. Glad you enjoyed it!

Congrats on your signed programme

How wonderful you saw the Q & A too .. The anecdote about Sean Mathias at Damien's audition is FAB!

It would be awesome to see your Q& A photos, we have a topic especially for such treasures, here

Great to hear that you had a great time, Aradia. Fantastic insight into the casting in the Q & A - love that Sean Matthias also feels the Molony Effect!