Official London Theatre have released a wonderful Q&A with the No Man's Land cast, with LOTS of Damien!

Read the full Q & A below

Q&A: CAST OF NO MAN'S LAND | Official London theatre

Congratulations on a fantastic show! How have you found working with the rest of the company of No Man’s Land?

Damien: Thank you! It’s been extremely inspiring, and hugely creative, first of all in four weeks of rehearsal, and then a five week tour. Not to sound too cliché, but I’ve learned a huge amount, and I’ve been amazed by the enthusiasm shown by Patrick, Ian and Sean, and their desire to create and discover the play in a new way.

Obviously the play was done in New York two years ago, but it wasn’t as if myself and Owen just slotted into previous roles, it was very much “let’s rediscover the play in a whole new way”, and that for us was hugely rewarding. And I get to work with three fantastic actors, and an amazing visionary director – it’s been the most fun, and hasn’t felt like work for a moment.

What are the particular challenges of approaching a Harold Pinter play?

You want to honour him. The language is so evocative, beautiful and important, and every word has is as important as every pause, so it’s about filling the pauses with menace or suspicion.

One of the hugely enjoyable things about doing this play is that there’s a new energy every single night – all four of us go on stage, not necessarily knowing what’s going to happen. It’s thrilling because you don’t know what Ian, Patrick or Owen are going to do next; every one of us is bouncing off each other. Sometimes you forget that the audience are there, and it feels like it’s something between the four of us.

So do you feel like the play has evolved over the course of the tour?

Absolutely, in a very good way, in the same way that a play running in the West End for six months would evolve. But what’s been so fantastic is that we’ve had Sean [Mathias, the Director] with us for three or four days on tour, and we’ve constantly been tweaking things, so that keeps the play fresh and keeps it exciting for us, and a dream job to be a part of.

What do you think London audiences will enjoy most about No Man’s Land?

There’s lots of things; for me watching it in rehearsals, there’s an immense sadness about these two old men getting drunk together in a room, with no real direction or no real desire to achieve anything. Certainly in Patrick’s case, he’s broken - he is in no man’s land.

On top of that, there’s huge humour – there’s almost sketch comedy within the play in places – big laughs, and there’s also real menace and fear, there’s a real sense of “I don’t know what’s going to happen.” There are power struggles, and that balance is changing all the time; sometimes Spooner’s in control, sometimes Hirst, sometimes Foster and sometimes Brigg’s in control. I think every member of the audience is going to take something different from the piece - there’s not just one version of the play.

Finally, has there been a standout moment from the past few months for you?

Watching Owen, Ian and Patrick work has been thrilling for me. Sometimes I have to remind myself that I’m actually a character in the play, and not just a member of the audience watching these amazing actors give amazing performances.

There have been stories in the rehearsal room, anecdotes that will come up, that I’ll remember for the rest of my life, and have sometimes had us in stitches, and sometimes had us in tears. It’s been incredible.