Harold Pinter Plays 1: The Birthday Party; The Room; The Dumb Waiter; A Slight Ache; The Hothouse; A Night Out; The Black and Wh

Description

This volume contains Harold Pinter's first six plays, including The Birthday Party.The Birthday Party Stanley Webber is visited in his boarding house by two strangers, Goldberg and McCann. An innocent-seeming birthday party for Stanley turns into a nightmare.The Room and The Dumb Waiter In these two early one-act plays, Harold Pinter reveals himself as already in full control of his unique ability to make dramatic poetry of the banalities of everyday speech and the precision with which it defines character.The Hothouse The Hothouse was first produced in 1980, though Harold Pinter wrote the play in 1958, just before commencing work on The Caretaker. In this compelling study of bureaucratic power, we can see the full emergence of a great and original dramatic talent.

Harold Pinter was born in East London in 1930. He lives in London and is married to Antonia Fraser. In 1995 he won the David Cohen British Literature Prize for a lifetime's achievement in literature; in 1996 he was awarded the Laurence Olivier Award for a lifetime's achievement in theatre; and in 1997 he was named as the Sunday Times Writer of the Year. In 2002 Harold Pinter was made a Companion of Honour in the Queen's Birthday Honours List for services to literature. He is the author of numerous plays and screenplays, and has written poetry and fiction.