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Author: Harold Pinter
Plays: The Birthday Party and The Room
THE AUTHOR AND HIS TIMES:
Harold Pinter was born in London, England in 1930. ... He studied for a few more years in the 1950’s and wrote his first play, The Room, in 1957. The Birthday Party was first performed in 1958 and only played for one week after receiving terrible reviews.
POINT OF VIEW:
The Birthday Party and The Room are both written in 3rd person objective. There is no narration because Pinter wants the character actions to be pure, unaltered, and unreconciled with what an audience would view as “rational” actions or thoughts. In doing this, Pinter allows the audience to try to glean character actions and dialogue to find Pinter’s message about human behavior. ...
FORM, STRUCTURE, and PLOT:
The Birthday Party:
Structure: 3 Acts. ... There are no distinct scenes, and the entire play occurs in the same room. All events are chronological in The Birthday Party. Pinter uses no other remarkable techniques besides a minimal amount of offstage events occurring, such as Meg walking out of sight with a drum and the sound of a car starting outside, and a simple plot line. Pinter writes absurdist plays, so character conflicts, actions, and dialogue do not always have a clear source, progression, or resolution. ... Instead, Pinter produces tension within The Birthday Party by means of pauses and breaks within phrases and sentences, allowing the audience to create their own idea of what the play means – the actual dialogue does not necessarily make complete sense, and is not necessarily a viable source for gaining insight into The Birthday Party’s meaning. ...
Plot:
The Birthday Party:
The play opens with Meg and Petey discussing breakfast, work, and the news, as well as some other general discussion.
Approximate Word count = 1463
Approximate Pages = 5.9
(250 words per page double spaced)
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