Harold Pinterâs extraordinary one-act play features gripping language, amid claustrophobia, confusion and tension
18 December, 2020 â By Lucy Popescu
Shane Zaza and Alec Newman in The Dumb Waiter. Photo: Helen Maybanks
IT was an absolute joy to return to Hampstead Theatre last week for its 60th anniversary production of Harold Pinterâs
The Dumb Waiter directed by Alice Hamilton.
Two casts underwent separate rehearsal processes starting in February, but they were not, until early December, able to open the show.
I love the fact that Hamilton was chosen to direct this production because, at 31, she is the same age James Roose Evans was when, in 1960, he premiered Pinterâs extraordinary one-act play in a church hall as part of the Hampstead Theatre Club.
Catch The Dumb Waiter at Hampstead Theatre while you can
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Published:
10:51 AM December 11, 2020
Harold Pinter s The Dumb Waiter runs at Hampstead Theatre starring Shane Zaza and Alec Newman
- Credit: Helen Maybanks
The Dumb Waiter at Hampstead Theatre
The set for this 60th anniversary production of Harold Pinter s Beckettian two-hander has stood sentinel over an empty auditorium since March.
A cast change and two lockdowns later, and it s a sombre piece to reopen the shuttered venue - to a masked and spaced out audience.
The communal theatre experience, and pre-show conversation was inevitably subdued - but we were all just happy to experience an all too short 55 minutes of live theatre.
© Helen Maybanks
Harold Pinter s one-act play, which typifies many of the themes that would go on to define his work, has a rich history at the Hampstead. Its UK premiere in 1960 was an early and crucial success for the venue - and the playwright - under founding artistic director James Roose-Evans.
Sixty years on it takes on renewed significance as it reopens the venue from its pandemic-induced hibernation. Originally scheduled to play back in March, it has been re-rehearsed, recast, and runs in an auditorium that features photos of Hampstead s previous productions draped over the 50 percent of unused seats. A two-hander running under an hour, it also happens to be pretty much the ideal play for these socially distanced times. Though even Pinter couldn t have foreseen that.
Last modified on Wed 9 Dec 2020 19.04 EST
There is an âamusing storyâ about the first performance of The Dumb Waiter at the Hampstead Theatre Club in 1960, according to its director, James Roose-Evans. The run was packed out, he remembers, despite the disaster of Harold Pinterâs second play, The Birthday Party, which was cancelled after a week. But though this third play was a sensation, Roose-Evans says that âthere were all these very smart people arguing about what it was about â what the play meantâ.
We know better now not to expect clearcut motivations or meanings from this tight two-hander about hitmen waiting for their next job, and its 60th anniversary production at the same (renamed) venue seems to accentuate its deliberate enigmas.
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