Saturday, July 27

Tag: The Dumb Waiter

The Dumb Waiter – Hope Street Theatre
North West

The Dumb Waiter – Hope Street Theatre

Moxie on Fire are certainly that with their production of Harold Pinter’s classic one-act play, considered to be one of his best, and certainly one open to much interpretation depending on who you talk to, with director Kaitlin Howard successfully navigating the potential pitfalls whilst still leaving us with plenty to reflect on at its conclusion. Gus (Gareth Llewelyn) and Ben (Richard Cottier) are hit men who are holed-up in a dingy basement kitchen, waiting to be sent out on their next job. Even from before the start of the play it is clear that Ben is the more senior of the two as they lie on their respective beds – Ben reading the newspaper, Gus seemingly asleep. The unravelling scene captures the uneasy frustration between them as they wait for instruction on their next victim...
The Dumb Waiter – Hampstead Theatre
London

The Dumb Waiter – Hampstead Theatre

When watching a play written by Harold Pinter, I always feel as though the writer is asking the audience to help him to write the play.  There is a feeling of inclusion as we follow the plot line, never really knowing what is coming next as we are still trying to puzzle out what just happened during the previous scene.  Pinter wrote this short play in 1957 and it premiered at Hampstead Theatre Club (as it was known then) in 1960 after first being staged in Frankfurt in 1959.  Pioneering his own style of writing; Pinter continues to fascinate 60 years later. The play begins with two men sitting in a shabby room with only two beds as furniture.  In typical Pinter style there is no explanation as to why these men are in the room, we are supposed to pick up on clues ...