If Harold Pinter is only remembered for one play, it’s likely to be his first full-length work, The Birthday Party, a darkly comic and highly ambiguous masterpiece of which it’s impossible to tire. Written when Pinter was a jobbing actor and first performed at the Arts Theatre in Cambridge in 1958 before a London premiere at the Lyric Opera House, Hammersmith, it’s a work wonderfully open to interpretation and therefore one that should be seen as often as possible. Five-time Olivier-Award-winning director Richard Jones returns to Theatre Royal Bath’s 126-seat Ustinov Studio, following the acclaimed 2023 production of Machinal which transferred to London’s Old Vic earlier this year, to direct what can only be described as a brilliant revival.
Having been fortunate enough to see Dame Eileen Atkins (a performance that still lives with me) and more recently Zoe Wannamaker play the naïve seaside boarding house owner, Meg Boles, this production benefits from the diverse talents of Olivier Award, Tony Award and BAFTA nominee Jane Horrocks, a wonderful if not obvious choice to tackle one of the most rewarding female characters Pinter, or indeed any British playwright, ever wrote. Within a very short time, Horrocks infuses the role with comedy and tragedy in equal measure, whilst making you feel guilty for laughing at the stupidity of the character’s idea of conversation.
This is an endearingly innocent Meg who is not averse to the presence of her young lodger Stanley Webber (Sam Swainsbury), however cruelly he bullies her. Proud of her rundown seaside boarding house, her inane nonsensical questions over the breakfast table irritate husband Petey (Nicolas Tennant), a deckchair attendant, but drive Stanley positively round the bend. Save for having played the piano on the pier, the unkempt Stanley, the only lodger residing with Meg and Petey, appears to have no profession and is extremely cagey about how and why he came to reside with the couple. We learn that he barely leaves the house, a puzzle (and insult) to the pretty, flirtatious neighbour Lulu (Carla Harrison-Hodge), and we wonder if he’s on the run from something.
As Pinter was always well aware, the casting of Meg has to be absolutely spot on or the play doesn’t stand a chance of conveying the twists and turns that take the audience from hearty laughter to biting their nails. Not only does this darkly comic production succeed with Horrocks at the helm, but is blessed with exceptional performances by the rest of the ensemble. Part of Deborah Warner’s 2024 season as Artistic Director of the Ustinov Studio, it feels especially intimate and Kafkaesque due to the size of the auditorium – offering the audience the chance not to be merely a fly on the wall as a bewildered guest of the impromptu party thrown for Stanley, never mind that he denies it’s even his birthday. The Ultz costumes create the perfect impression of seaside seediness and encourage us to piece the clues together far more than the minimalist set design – the only thing about this production that left me cold – but then perhaps that was the point.
Stanley is rattled when two sinister ‘business’ men, Goldberg (John Marquez) and his Irish sidekick McCann (Caolan Byrne) turn up to stay, and the tension which lies at the heart of the play escalates to fever pitch as Goldberg and McCann interrogate Stanley with a volley of questions. The first act hurtles towards its close like a looming hangman’s noose, with the bottles of Scotch and Irish lined up on the serving hatch ready to fuel the menacing and extremely well choreographed (Aletta Collins) ‘party’ game of blindman’s buff. Swainsbury delivers an absorbing portrayal of a terrified man trying to escape the clutches of Goldberg and McCann and if at first you thought Stanley was suffering from paranoia, the snap of his glasses being broken in two should rule this out – so too the piercing scream of Lulu after the lights go out and the stage is plunged into darkness.
The second act, the morning after the night before and the birthday party of which nightmares are made, leaves as many unanswered questions as you should expect from a Harold Pinter play. And it’s this intrigue and bafflement which keeps fans (including myself) wanting to see every new production. Nor will your appreciation of Pinter wane with this revival at the Ustinov Studio, as well-crafted as anything you’ll find on the West End or Broadway, whilst offering audiences a far more immersive viewing experience. Never mind the warning of ‘smoking’ on stage, this is the kind of production that makes you look over your shoulder on the way home.
The Birthday Party at Theatre Royal Bath – Ustinov Studio until 31st August 2024. Running time 2 hours 30 minutes. Production images by Foteini Christofilopoulou. For more information and tickets please visit the website or call the Theatre Royal Box Office on 01225 448844.
