Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.45 AVERAGE
3.45 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
A good, realistic slice of family life. For one act. Then it got crazy in the best, most addictive way.
Read it.
Read it.
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The Birthday Party is the play I'd give to someone if I really wanted them to be scared shitless by Harold Pinter. There is no easy way into Pinter so it's best to just crash-land into his work. This play contains everything that one may describe as "Pinteresque". Long pauses. Overwhelming dread. Near deathly tension. And, of course, humour. Dark, dark humour.
Stanley is a lodger in a house in a seaside town. He lives with the owners of the house. They are simply folk. One day two men turn up at the house and brutally interrogate Stanley until he is reduced to a child-like vegetative state. Wait. What? Yeah. But there's jokes as well.
If you are in any way familiar with my humour then you've probably already guessed that I adore this play. Pinter is one of those writers who I feel would be hilarious at funerals. In that his work is so out-there that it almost transcends life and death and everything takes place in a near purgatorial setting. The drum beat, the fricative verbal tennis matches, everything in this play feels like it's counting down to something. Tick follows tock follows tick. But then Pinter does what Pinter does best and stops. Is the ending satisfying? Fuck no. And that's why I love it. Ugh, Pinter you beautiful man.
Stanley is a lodger in a house in a seaside town. He lives with the owners of the house. They are simply folk. One day two men turn up at the house and brutally interrogate Stanley until he is reduced to a child-like vegetative state. Wait. What? Yeah. But there's jokes as well.
If you are in any way familiar with my humour then you've probably already guessed that I adore this play. Pinter is one of those writers who I feel would be hilarious at funerals. In that his work is so out-there that it almost transcends life and death and everything takes place in a near purgatorial setting. The drum beat, the fricative verbal tennis matches, everything in this play feels like it's counting down to something. Tick follows tock follows tick. But then Pinter does what Pinter does best and stops. Is the ending satisfying? Fuck no. And that's why I love it. Ugh, Pinter you beautiful man.
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
adventurous
challenging
tense
medium-paced
