Harold Pinter RIP

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martinfoyle
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Harold Pinter RIP

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Otis Westinghouse
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Re: Harold Pinter RIP

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Yeah, was shocked to hear this on Christmas Day, though of course he was ill for some time. A great writer, one I read literally from start to finish over a few days as a student and was amazed by how well he could build tension and menace through silence and awkwardness, and how banal language could become sinister. Since then I've seen several of his plays performed, on TV as well as theatre, most recently going to see The Birthday Party performed in the same Cambridge theatre it had its debut in 50 years before. I was the only person laughing in many places. Like Beckett, his mentor in many ways, he could make bleakness incredibly funny. And despite all the 'champagne socialist' stuff, he was great at being an outspoken anti-war commentator, and it was only fitting his politics followed the direction of his plays in exposing the endless ability of humans to be cruel to one another.

Here's hoping there'll be a glut of BBC repeats of televised plays. Many were done back in the day, often with the same actors as stage productions and I've seen some very fine ones in the past.
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Re: Harold Pinter RIP

Post by Who Shot Sam? »

:cry: :cry:

Saw a great production of The Homecoming with Ian Holm in London several years ago.

One of the greats, no doubt about it.
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Otis Westinghouse
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Re: Harold Pinter RIP

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Very good piece on Pinter by acclaimed theatre director Sir Richard Eyre in Sunday's Observer:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2008/ ... er-theatre
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Otis Westinghouse
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Re: Harold Pinter RIP

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A conversation this week with someone who saw 1975's No Man's Land in its first run with Gielgud and Richardson and said how fabulous it was, and quoted the line 'a betwixt twig peeper' used to describe one of the protagonists spying on others on Hampstead Heath, led me back to vol 4 of my complete Pinter plays (up until 1984, anyway, when I bought them all). First time I've actually read them since summer '84 when I read all 4 volumes straight through. I had no recollection of NML, despite the customary pencil underlinings of my undergraduate self. You can read a play in 30 mins or so. What a pleasure. Obviously they're great theatre, but they're also great to read. Classic Pinter: 'Who on earth are these people? How do they come to be together? Why are they being so unpleasant to each other? Can we believe anything they say?' and yet it's totally compelling. The language is wonderful, very excessive, two poets (we're led to believe), trying to show off. And loads of swearing, several c words, for example. And the immortal exchange where one man tries to guess the other's wife's eye colour and hits on hazel, eliciting the reply 'hazel shit'. I have a strong desire to see a load of this stuff and there were so many good TV productions back in the day, often with the original theatre cast, e.g. Vivien Merchant. I hope a season's coming.
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Re: Harold Pinter RIP

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Otis Westinghouse wrote:A conversation this week with someone who saw 1975's No Man's Land in its first run with Gielgud and Richardson and said how fabulous it was, and quoted the line 'a betwixt twig peeper' used to describe one of the protagonists spying on others on Hampstead Heath, led me back to vol 4 of my complete Pinter plays (up until 1984, anyway, when I bought them all). First time I've actually read them since summer '84 when I read all 4 volumes straight through. I had no recollection of NML, despite the customary pencil underlinings of my undergraduate self. You can read a play in 30 mins or so. What a pleasure. Obviously they're great theatre, but they're also great to read. Classic Pinter: 'Who on earth are these people? How do they come to be together? Why are they being so unpleasant to each other? Can we believe anything they say?' and yet it's totally compelling. The language is wonderful, very excessive, two poets (we're led to believe), trying to show off. And loads of swearing, several c words, for example. And the immortal exchange where one man tries to guess the other's wife's eye colour and hits on hazel, eliciting the reply 'hazel shit'. I have a strong desire to see a load of this stuff and there were so many good TV productions back in the day, often with the original theatre cast, e.g. Vivien Merchant. I hope a season's coming.
Securing tickets for the late fall revival on Broadway of "Betrayal" starring Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz for my middle daughter and her boyfriend. I saw it on Broadway years ago with Raul Julia and Blythe Danner. Its study of cronology and deceit has stayed with me over the years. I saw that production of "No Man's land" in 1975 in London, my first ever trip to that city. Most memorable getting the chance to see two of the pre-eminent English actors of the stage. I remember hanging on every word and subtle gesture. One of my all time favorite trips to the theatre. I recently watched for the upteenth time "The Servant". Bogarde is so slimey and those scenes with Sarah Miles are extremely creepy. That movie has to be the alltime depiction of depraved evil. And Pinter's words are pure poetry.
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
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Otis Westinghouse
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Re: Harold Pinter RIP

Post by Otis Westinghouse »

Ah, you were there too! Do you recall 'betwixt twig peeper'?

Haven't seen The Servant in ages, but would love to again. And Accident, with the same superb trio of men. Great films.
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Jack of All Parades
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Re: Harold Pinter RIP

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Otis Westinghouse wrote:Ah, you were there too! Do you recall 'betwixt twig peeper'?

Haven't seen The Servant in ages, but would love to again. And Accident, with the same superb trio of men. Great films.
Very much so- that first act is tremendous and one watched Gielgud's Spooner mince and parry with the Richardson character with increasing queasiness. I remember being eerily moved because I had previously, a day or so before seeing the play, been out walking on Hampstead Heath trying to recreate the walks that Keats or Coleridge would have taken in that area of London and I could picture some of the homes that surround it and the public houses like Jack Straw's Castle that are also dotted around the perimeter as I heard those words on the stage. Witness:

http://youtu.be/Wd6iKPkXMqY
"....there's a merry song that starts in 'I' and ends in 'You', as many famous pop songs do....'
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