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A CurtainUp 
London Review
London ReviewThe Birthday Party
by Neil Dowden
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There's nowhere to go, so we could just go, it wouldn't matter.— Stanley
We might as well stay here.— Lulu |
Sheila Hancock as Meg and Justin Salinger as Petey
(Photo: Simon Kane) |
Set in an unnamed seaside town, the play begins mundanely at breakfast in the crumbling guesthouse of amiably taciturn deckchair attendant Petey (Alan Williams) and his simple-minded yet inquisitive wife Meg (Sheila Hancock). Their one guest, Stanley (Justin Salinger), has been living with them for a year, but, as the attractive girl next door Lulu (Sian Brooke) tells him, he is a "washout". However, his boringly aimless life is disturbed by the arrival of two enigmatic, vaguely threatening men, the Jewish Goldberg (Nicholas Woodeson) and the Irish McCann (Lloyd Hutchinson), who seem to be looking for him. Things come to a head during Stanley's birthday party, as the fun and games take on a far more sinister tone.
The Birthday Party bears all the hallmarks of Pinter's style. A "comedy of menace", where an atmosphere of latent violence is relieved by bizarre moments of humour, this elliptical play features naturalistic yet stylized dialogue, full of pregnant pauses and subtext, with the audience trying to decipher exactly what is going on underneath. A power struggle develops with political implications, as an individual comes into conflict with representatives of an authoritarian organization, while also featuring the Pinteresque themes of mental breakdown, erotic tension and fragmented communication.
Farr's nicely balanced production gives full rein to the play's absurdist comedy, while allowing a darkly disquietly mood to develop, so that black farce merges with gangster thriller. He is ably assisted by Jon Bausor's distorted-perspective design of a dilapidated bed and breakfast establishment with peeling wallpaper and faded furniture, and Jon Clark's expressive lighting, especially effective when menacing shadows are cast on the wall during the party.
Salinger brilliantly gives Stanley the cynical humour and vacant viciousness of a drop-out lying low, as broken inside as his glasses are on his face. Hancock gives a delightfully dotty, wonderfully warm performance as Meg, doting on Stanley both maternally and sexually, and Williams is a phlegmatic Petey with a surprising moral sturdiness. Brooke lends Lulu a little girl lost manner, with a predilection for older men that is shocked by Woodeson's Goldberg, whose loquacious bonhomie and sentimental family mythologizing masks a violent temper, while Hutchinson's forbidding but anxious McCann tears newspapers into strips to stop himself getting too worked up.
The only disappointing aspect of this production is the shortness of its run — scarcely longer than the original failed version 50 years ago! - but it's well worth seeing if you can. Many happy returns to The Birthday Party.
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The Birthday Party
Written by Harold Pinter Directed by David Farr Starring: Justin Salinger, Sheila Hancock, Alan Williams, Sian Brooke, Nicholas Woodeson, Lloyd Hutchinson Design: Jon Bausor Lighting: Jon Clark Sound: Nick Manning A Lyric Hammersmith production Running time: Two hours fifteen minutes (including interval) Box Office: 0870 050 0511 Booking to 24th May 2008 Reviewed by Neil Dowden based on May 12th performance at the Lyric Hammersmith, King Street, London W6 0QL (Tube: Hammersmith) |
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