Our first look at Damien in action in No Man’s Land has arrived, in a brand new trailer released by NT Live today.
Our fave actor is currently appearing on stage in the Harold Pinter play at Wyndhams Theatre London, alongside Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart and Owen Teale. The new trailer comes ahead of the play’s NT Live broadcast in cinemas worldwide 15 December.
Appearing in ‘period’ 70s costume clad in a loud shirt, bomber jacket, flares, heeled boots and with impressive sideburns, it’s also the first time we’ve heard Damien in character as Foster, who has a cockney accent.
Both profoundly sad and hilariously funny, the trailer highlights the comedic aspect of the absurdist play, directed by Sean Mathias.
Hirst, Spooner, Foster and Briggs, are all named after cricketers, as Damien himself reminds us in a wonderful new photo shared on his Instagram page today.
A photo posted by Damien Molony (@damien_molony) on Sep 30, 2016 at 2:19am PDT
The play has received excellent reviews since opening in London, and the NT Livecinema broadcasts will give a wider audience the opportunity to see “four excellent actors, under Mathias’s direction, exquisitely capture the fluctuations of mood of this remarkable play.”
Screenings will be live in cinemas throughout the UK and Europe, and ‘as live’ elsewhere internationally, depending on time zones. The broadcast will be followed by a live Q & A with the cast and director.
Well, one reason I'm going to see the live streamed performance is the close-ups! Wonderful on stage, but just zooming in on the face adds an extra dimension. You get to see even more of the character. I was in the Circle and the stage seemed far away - when you're in the God's you get a - more of a long-distance type of perspective.
So pleased to see Damien in the trailer, too - loved his smirk!
I love this trailer....and it's sooo good to see/hear Damien feature in it - it could so easily have just been the 2 sirs! I agree Ellie - NT live quite literally gives you an entirely different perspective (and you don't have to keep shifiting to see around the bloke sitting infront of you who obviously totally lost interest after the first 20 minutes and just can't sit still!!!! At one point he put his head on his girlfriends shoulder....although at least then it was out of the way. lol!) Their recordings are quite screen savvy and are very effective in combining the immediacy and vibe of live theatre with the effect of putting the audience's eye on the stage with the actors. Although one of the delights of seeing a production on stage is being able to allow your eye to stray away from the focal point....to direct your own gaze.....
"The quirkiness of the trailer appeals too, the laughter alone could imply that it is simply comedy, but it has lots more about it" They've certainly chosen to promote the funnier side of it..... I've been musing over the fact that the comedy element seemed much stronger when I was watching it than I recall now - I think that is the first hit with this play. Maybe the more poignent/melancholic/thought provoking elements need a bit more time to ferment..... Or maybe I'm just a bit slow to digest these things
-- Edited by fifi on Tuesday 4th of October 2016 11:07:35 AM
It is definitely a thrill to see Damien so prominently in the trailer!
The NT Live experience could never replace the experience of seeing a play live, for the reasons you give fifi, and also the electricity of the moment being created right there, the presence, the aliveness of art in motion...especially with this play where the audience, as Damien has described in interviews, are so much part of the journey and shape of that night's 'version'. But, it is so much better than not seeing it at all and as you said so well "Their recordings are quite screen savvy and are very effective in combining the immediacy and vibe of live theatre with the effect of putting the audience's eye on the stage with the actors."
My experience of it is only as a reader, perhaps it could be said that the top layer, is the humour, which really is laugh out loud at times, but as it progresses and also begins to sink in more deeply, its other many textures begin to infuse in a less obvious, less nameable way. For me its that indelible profoundness that continues to unfold afterwards.