No Man's Land

Synopsis

Caught vandalising a garden, 17-year-old Kitten is sent by his Youth Offending Officer Carole to carry out tasks at the home of Viktor, a 70-year-old pensioner living in Armley. Consumed with memories of his past, Viktor is paid visits by a mysterious woman named Ingrid and becomes increasingly caught up in his own thoughts; meanwhile Kitten is distracted from his tasks when he hears a noise coming from Viktor’s shed and discovers 15-year-old runaway Little Houdini inside. As Little Houdini strives to remain hidden, Kitten begins to learn about Viktor and his experiences of breaking rules, stowing away and fighting for survival as a young man trapped on the Eastern side of Berlin. A tender and imaginative drama in which boundaries are crossed, divides are conquered and unlikely friendships made.

Our Review:

Hannah Giles - 3 May 2011

It’s a strange sensation being in a theatre full of baffled people, but that was indeed the reaction to No Man’s Land, a bilingual co-production that forms part of the ‘Borderlines’ collaboration between the THEATER AN DER PARKAUE – Junges Staatstheater Berlin and the West Yorkshire Playhouse.

At times inventive and striking, at others disjointed and incoherent. In 90 minutes (no interval), No Man’s Land manages to cover more ground than Leeds and Berlin put together.

The story revolves around Kitten, a seventeen-year-old delinquent sent to carry out “reparations” (or plain old community service) at the Leeds home of 71-year-old German, Viktor. Thrown into the mix are Kitten’s social worker, Carole, and a young runaway who calls herself ‘Houdini’. Through these characters, borders in a variety of forms – geographical, social, generational and cultural – are explored, culminating in a surprising and perplexing ending.

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