Pinter’s The Birthday Party

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A decade on from his death, Harold Pinter remains pretty much incomparable as a playwright.

Timeout London

The Birthday Party was Harold Pinter’s second play, and famously, its premiere was a commercial and critical disaster. Theatre critic Harold Hobson was the lone voice of dissent:

I am well aware that Mr Pinter[‘]s play received extremely bad notices. …. I am willing to risk whatever reputation I have as a judge of plays by saying that The Birthday Party is not a Fourth, not even a Second, but a First [as in Class Honours]; and that Pinter, on the evidence of his work, possesses the most original, disturbing and arresting talent in theatrical London … Mr Pinter and The Birthday Party will be heard of again. Make a note of their names.

Blackbird’s production of Pinter’s famous “comedy of menace” solidified the new company’s reputation as an exceptional presenter of classic works. Artistic Director John Wright partnered with Henry Woolf, a longtime friend and collaborator of Pinter himself, to bring Woolf’s profound understanding of Pinter’s psychological landscape and symbolism to the work.

When two sinister strangers suddenly visit a seaside boarding house, the birthday party being held for one resident turns into a nightmare of dark secrets and ambiguous threat.