Examines the basis of Harold Pinter's tense comedy and how it functions in his plays as well as covering the major drama from The Room to Other Places. Diamond argues that the metaphysical fear and emptiness so characteristic of the Pinter situation are inseparable from his use and abuse of literary and popular comic traditions.

During the past century, artists have been preoccupied with the search for meaning in a fragmented world. In this book Victor L. Cahn suggests that the plays of Harold Pinter dramatize how such a search leads characters to try to establish security through control of territory and people. The resulting conflict often manifests itself in a gender battle, in which men dominate the physical arena and women the emotional. The innate tension between the sexes is both comic and unnerving, but also reflects humanity's eternal quest for meaning and identity.

This Reader's Guide synthesises the key criticism on Pinter's work over the last half century. Andrew Wyllie and Catherine Rees examine critical approaches and reactions to the major plays, charting the controversies which have arisen in response to Pinter's critiques of political and sexual issues. They consider criticism from the press and academics, on the themes of Absurdism, politics and gender identity. By placing this criticism in its historical context, this guide illustrates a transition from bewilderment and outrage to affection, fascination - and more outrage.

This book provides a holistic approach to Harold Pinter’s plays, from his first play, The Room (1957), to his last play, Celebration (1999). The book is divided into three chapters, organized thematically. The first chapter discusses the early plays—the so-called comedies of menace—concerning the central tropes of secluded settings, intrusion from the outside, and disintegration of the self. The next chapter analyzes Pinter’s memory plays, concentrating on how characters shelter themselves from intrusions through silences and lies. The third chapter examines power games and abuse of power in political plays. The book contributes to the field of Pinter studies by pursuing the thematic, linguistic, and formal elements integral to his aesthetic productions, and delineates the properties that serve as constants in Pinter’s dramatic oeuvre, thus justifying the term Pinteresque: pauses and silences, subtext, anxiety, violence, menace, vulnerability, victimization, intrusion, and power games. The discussions highlight the presence of a solid foundation for his drama—such as his conviction that the past is in the present—and connect all the plays to one another.

"Pinter's Odd Man Out records Sidney Homan's experience directing the playwright's Old Times for both stage and television. His most commercially successful play, and surely one of his best, no other work of Pinter's has generated more critical and scholarly commentary - or more varied, sometimes conflicting readings." "In the two opening chapters Homan surveys the theatrical and critical history of the play before describing the "generic" world of Pinter that provides the context of Old Times: secluded rooms, their occupants, and the visitor who, in seeking entrance, challenges the room's exclusive yet deceptive serenity; the outside and the threat it poses; the subtext pressing on the dialogue; the power of the past and perception; the "presence" of the play itself; characters who function as artists; the issue of gender; mother and father figures; and the silence of Pinter's pauses." "Homan then describes his company's preparations for the performance, ranging from the director's concept, the set, props, costumes, lighting, and music to blocking and the rehearsal period. After his own account of the stage production and the ways in which the audience "taught" the performers through their reactions to and discoveries about the play, Homan turns to his actors (Stephanie Dugan, Thomas Pender, and Sandra Langsner) who, in their own words, describe how they wrestled with the characters of Kate, Deeley, and Anna from rehearsals to performance." "A chapter on "The Camera as Guest" records the experience of filming the stage play. Here the focus is on the technological and aesthetic differences between the media of television and the stage, and what effect such differences had on the filmed version of Old Times. To what degree does the camera allow the director to assert more control? What changes in blocking, set, and lighting were required?" "In an appendix Homan looks at Carol Reed's 1950s film Odd Man Out, which figures prominently in Old Times, and which may have been a source (in a highly flexible use of that term) for the play." "On the surface, Pinter's Odd Man Out concentrates on a single play. In reality, it is about the ways in which people in the theatre approach a production, the process they go through from rehearsals to opening night, and the complex interaction among playwright, director, actors, and audience. It also raises the issue of what happens when a work intended for the stage is translated to another medium, such as television. If the book at times suggests that the worlds of the scholar and the theatre professional are different, indeed incompatible in some ways, it also shows how the two professions can learn from each other."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Publisher Description

This collection of essays focuses on one of Harold Pinter's most popular and challenging plays, The Dumb Waiter, while addressing also a range of significant issues current in Pinter studies and which are applicable beyond this play. The interesting and provocative dialogues between established and emerging scholars featured here provide close readings of The Dumb Waiter, within relevant cultural and historical contexts and from a range of theoretical perspectives. The essays range over issues of autobiography and theater, genre studies, and the impact of Pinter's political activism on his dramatic production, among others. The collection is also concerned with the meaning of the play when assessed against other example's of Pinter's work, both dramatic and non-dramatic writing. Each contributor shows a gift for presenting a complex argument in an accessible style, making this book an important resource for a wide range of readers, from undergraduates to postgraduates and specialist researchers. The collection offers essays that approach The Dumb Waiter, from an interdisciplinary perspective and as both a literary and dramatic text. Thus, the book should be of equal significance to those encountering Pinter within the context of English Studies, drama, and performance.