By Clare Thorp
When it comes to friendship goals, no one sets the bar higher than actors Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Patrick Stewart.
The award-winning pair became unlikely social media stars as they toured the sights of Manhattan in matching bowler hats during their 2009 Broadway production of Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, posting selfies as they went. This summer, the actors were reunited in a stage production of Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land at London’s Wyndham’s Theatre – and on 15th December, their performance will be broadcast live to Vue’s screens via NT Live, followed by an encore on 15th January.
Behind the scenes at the No Man's Land camera rehearsal. Photo by Ludovic des Cognets McKellen and Stewart play two ageing writers, Hirst and Spooner, one with a decidedly more charmed life than the other, who meet in a North London pub and continue drinking into the night at Hirst’s nearby stately home. This is one of Pinter’s funniest works, with the sharp exchanges perfectly suited to McKellen and Stewart’s playful on and off-screen relationship.
He was a dazzlingly clever intelligent comic and entertaining writer.
Behind the scenes at the No Man's Land camera rehearsal. Photo by Ludovic des Cognets We may never be invited to join McKellen and Stewart’s bowler hat club, but watching these two legends on stage together for a couple hours, doing what they do best, is a pretty good alternative.
No Man’s Land will be broadcast live to Vue on 15th December with an encore on 15th January; get times and tickets here.
