The X-Men stars will take their revival of the Harold Pinter classic to Sheffield, Newcastle, Brighton and Cardiff before a London run with some £10 tickets

Seven years after they waited for Godot together in London, Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart will return to UK theatres this summer with a revival of No Man’s Land by Harold Pinter. Tickets to see the X-Men stars in the West End will start at multiplex prices, with more than 100 seats per performance available for between £10 and £20. The production will begin its short tour at Sheffield’s Lyceum theatre in August and stop off at Newcastle, Brighton and Cardiff. No Man’s Land will begin previews at Wyndham’s theatre in London in September.

It was at Wyndham’s in 1975 that Stewart saw the original production of No Man’s Land, starring Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, and he returned twice to see it again in the same week. Stewart said he “would have seen it more if I could have afforded the tickets. I made a promise to myself that one day I would play Spooner or Hirst, but to be doing it back at Wyndham’s with Ian McKellen was a fantasy I never entertained.”

McKellen played the boozy poet Spooner opposite Stewart as his similarly sozzled host, Hirst, on Broadway in 2013, when the play was presented in rep with the Waiting for Godot production that was seen in London. In his review, the New York Times critic Ben Brantley wrote: “I will forever cherish the memory of [McKellen and Stewart’s characters] doing their best to one-up each other, in authoritatively delivered nonsense.”

McKellen said: “Playing Spooner to Patrick’s Hirst on Broadway was a constant joy, which is why I am delighted to be back with him in the West End.”

In June 2015, McKellen confirmed the UK tour in a Guardian webchat:



Yes! You hear it here first. No Man’s Land will tour the UK and play in London … The script is sensationally speakable, and although it was a big success on Broadway I think the play, with its references to cricket and the class system, properly belongs in England.

Directed by Sean Mathias, No Man’s Land will open at the Lyceum theatre, Sheffield, on 3 August and play at Theatre Royal, Newcastle, from 15 August, Theatre Royal, Brighton, from 22 August and New theatre, Cardiff, from 29 August. Its 14-week engagement at Wyndham’s theatre, London, starts on 8 September.