The Birthday Party: Pinter’s Strangeness Reimagined

Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party was met with widespread criticism when it first opened in London in 1958. Despite this, one critic, Harold Hobson, stood out by praising the play, stating: “Pinter, on the evidence of this work, possesses the most original, disturbing and arresting talent in theatrical London.”

What was once groundbreaking and unsettling in the mid-20th century has become somewhat clichéd today: the elliptical dialogues, the pregnant pauses, and the pervasive sense of menace. It’s understandable why director Richard Jones and designer Ultz would attempt to present this new production in a way that rekindles the strangeness felt by the original audience, even if the execution falls short.

Set in a realist, seaside guesthouse, Pinter’s play introduces us to Petey, a deckchair attendant, and his wife, Meg, who is overbearing towards their single lodger, Stanley. Sam Swainsbury portrays Stanley, an out-of-work concert pianist, with truculence. The set designed by Ultz attempts to skew our sense of reality. While the room is period-authentic, it is sparsely furnished with all elements—chairs, tables, walls, and doors—sharing a dingy brown tone beneath a bizarrely angled ceiling.

Where Pinter’s script disrupts the ordinary through nuanced language and dialogue that hints at deeper meaning, Jones’s production instead depicts the characters as inherently peculiar from the outset. This approach risks overshadowing the subtleties of Pinter’s work. Movements become almost mechanical, choreographed in puppet-like fashion by Aletta Collins. Jane Horrocks, playing Meg, manages to depict a fractured individuality beneath her jerky movements.

The arrival of Goldberg and McCann, played chillingly by John Marquez and Caolan Byrne, introduces an additional layer of disturbance but doesn’t quite succeed in shifting the dynamics as dramatically as it should. Instead, it seems to merely amplify an already bizarre situation.

The infamous birthday party and its violent aftermath feel more akin to a Grand Guignol spectacle than a carefully constructed drama, missing the mark on delivering the intended emotional punch.

Nonetheless, the production feels most in tune with Pinter’s essence in quieter moments. One such instance is the poignant plea delivered by Nicolas Tennant’s Petey to a traumatized Stanley being led away: “Stan, don’t let them tell you what to do!” This line resonates with the desolate tone Pinter masterfully weaves into his work.

The Birthday Party is showing at the Ustinov Studio, Bath, until 31 August.

Source: The Guardian