The Birthday Party
By Harold Pinter
12th - 15th, 18th, and 20th - 22nd September at 7pm
The Cellar Theatre
“Let me- just make this clear. You don’t bother me. To me, you’re nothing but a dirty joke. But I have a responsibility towards the people in this house. They’ve been down here too long. They’ve lost their sense of smell. I haven’t. And nobody’s going to take advantage of them while I’m here.”
In a small seaside English town, on an unimportant street, in an unsuspecting boarding house, resides Stanley Webber. He has spent the last few years in the solitary company of the owners, Meg and Petey: barely leaving the living room and barely living.
That is, until two visitors arrive - the first in a very long time - plunging Stanley into a world of dizzying menace. The intruders - Goldberg and McCann - spur the residents into celebration and confrontation, and orchestrate The Birthday Party.
‘The Birthday Party’ examines a world of comfort and stagnancy and turns it on its head, making the familiar disturbing and even anxiety-inducing. This Comedy of Menace is one of Pinter’s most beautiful blends of realism and absurdism, and deftly tugs at the fears and feelings we all have: that sometimes the world is completely out of our control, that we are being pushed by forces much greater than us, and that sometimes our grasp on reality isn't as firm as we think it is.
Cast:
Stanley: Sean Landis
Goldberg: Maxwell Peacock
McCann: Courtney Henson
Meg: Isabella Pinson
Petey: Felix Faber
Lulu: Andrea Mudbidri
Crew:
Director: Lincoln Gidney
Assistant Director: Tom Hicks
Producer: Hannah Crane
Set Designer: Rebecca Howarth
Assistant Set Designer: Camille Karski
Costume Designer: Jake Parker
Assistant Costume: Nina Mountford
Sound Designer: Georgia Condon
Stage Manager: Declan Coyle
Lighting Designer: Lincoln Gidney
Graphic Design: Oliver Brighton
Photography: Jake Starr
Make Up: Tess Williams
Chalk Art: Rebecca Lazenby & Johnny Coyle
Honi Soit review
“The cast performed with unshakeable conviction”
Pulp review
“… individual performances merge beautifully in complicated dialogue scenes”