Review Roundup: NO MAN'S LAND at Berkeley Rep

Harold Pinter's NO MAN'S LAND starring Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Billy Crudup and Shuler Hensley, directed by Sean Mathias, opened August 11 at 7pm at Berkeley Rep. This brief engagement will play through August 31.

Following the Berkeley run, McKellen, Stewart, Crudup and Hensley will star on Broadway in a limited season repertoire of Harold Pinter's NO MAN'S LAND and Samuel Beckett's WAITING FOR GODOT, two of the most iconic plays of the 20th Century, which will open on Broadway at the Cort Theatre, 138 West 48th Street, this fall. Performances will begin Saturday, October 26 at 8pm. The official opening is Sunday, November 24, 2013. This limited season will run for 14 weeks only. For performance schedule and more information, visit TwoPlaysInRep.com.

Let's see what the critics had to say:

Robert Hurwitt of the San Francisco Chronicle says: With Billy Crudup and Shuler Hensley in the supporting roles, the veritable all-star production that opened Sunday at Berkeley Rep's Roda Theatre is a master class in Pinter performance. And a very enjoyable one at that. This may be its pre-Broadway warm-up - where it will play in repertory with the same cast in "Waiting for Godot" - but it's already as smooth as the fine-malt scotch so endlessly consumed onstage.

Tony Frankel of Stage and Cinema writes: While it's a giddy treat watching these fine actors, director Sean Mathias offers a production rich in line readings but deficient in the hidden agenda necessary to make this play stunning. Crudup is far and away the most magnetic actor in the first act, but as sexy as he is, he lacks sexual tension. Hensley would be perfect as the hapless gangster in Pinter's The Dumb Waiter, as there is nothing menacing about him whatsoever, even though he is an imposing figure; he just seems like a big lug who takes his job of caretaker/servant/butler quite seriously. Crudup and Hensley play the two characters that should be threatening and volatile, but they are not.

Karen D'Sousa of Mercury News writes: Mathias, who directed these two legendary actors in "Godot" in London in 2009, has an affinity for the nuances of existential dread. From the first night cap to the last toast, this is a booze-soaked aria in pauses that speak volumes and stares that will stop your heart. As you might expect, the cagey and elliptical plot is not the point. It scarcely matters if Spooner (McKellen) and Hirst (Stewart) actually knew each other at Oxford or if Hirst's minions, the sleazy Foster (Billy Crudup) and the thuggy Briggs (Shuler Hensley), are lovers.

Clinton Stark of the Stark Insider says: In Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart we have Two Sirs; and Two Legends of screen and stage. That these two gents would appear on stage together is truly a spectacle not to be missed. Indeed the standing 'O' at the world premiere of No Man's Land last night was among the strongest and longest I've ever witnessed in four years of covering productions at this theater.... Harold Pinter is, of course, a dramatic master. His literary gymnastics that also of legend. His words, from a revival of his 1975 classic, a match made in absurdest heaven for Sir Stewart and Sir McKellen. When the sumptuously projected and layered curtain drops, the drinking and sparring begin with little fanfare. What follows is two hours of theatrical bliss. One, indeed, for the ages.

Marcus Crowder of The Sacramento Bee says: Performed by classical masters Ian McKellen andPatrick Stewart in the new Berkeley Rep pre-Broadway run production, the sinuous dialogue ripples like the poetic verse Pinter wrote in his youth. A sad, mysterious comedy, the 1975 play has held a major station in Pinter's significant body of work, even as its meaning eludes a definitive explanation. Director Sean Mathias' sharp, nuanced production revives the play's dark allure for a new generation to ponder.

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