Theatre Review
50th Anniversary Production THE BIRTHDAY PARTY
Sheila Hancock stars in The Birthday Party (photo: Robert Day)
By Harold Pinter
Directed by David Farr
Lyric Hammersmith 8 – 24 May, 2008
Ibs
A review by Barry Grantham for EXTRA! EXTRA!
There could be no more worthy project than The Lyric Theatre’s revival of Harold Pinter’s ’The Birthday Party’ Fifty years to the day (on the 19th. May) of its first appearance at the same venue. And that is I think the problem – It is so terribly worthy. Its reception last night by the packed and the initially eager audience was respectful, even reverential rather than enthusiastic, and the laughter polite and oddly spasmodic, so that a line of dialogue or a bit of business was greeted by little ripples of laughter from one part of the house and then at other times by another group or even an individual member of the audience. For me, in moments of tedium, it even crossed my mind that Mr Harold Hobson in praising the work had been wrong and the general condemnation right. But that would be unfair. For back in 1958 Pinter was an original and powerful new voice in the theatre, and no-one has found a more truthful approximation of the dialogue of the ordinary people he represented, but these were grey times and this remains a very grey play. The present production has its moments; Stanley’s (Justin Salinger) bashing of the toy drum - a perfect first-act curtain, a tour de force from Goldberg (Nicholas Woodeson) and McCann (Lloyd Hutchinson) in the last act, the wonderful ennobling of Petey (Alan Williams) when he makes a last abortive stand to protect Stanley, and many of Meg’s (Shelia Hancock) scenes, particularly in the second act, but on the whole the production fails to ignite. I am, unusually, uncertain as to where to lay the blame. The direction seems competent, so it is either the acting or the play itself, no longer working for today’s audience. I don’t think it is the latter. I took down a copy of the play from my shelves, and scanned over it, and still found it moving, threatening, and humorous by turn. So, is it the Acting? We are looking at competence rather than inspired performances. I only found two of the cast entirely satisfactory and they were Alan Williams as Petey and Lloyd Hutchinson as McCann. Justin Salinger has the almost impossible role of Stanley, a thoroughly despicable character, whom nonetheless must gain our sympathy if the interrogation scenes to follow are to work. I was a little disappointed in Miss Hancock‘s portrayal in the early scenes. I don’t think the character should be thought of as just ‘stupid’. True, she’s none too bright, but just why does she say such silly things? I knew a Meg at one time, who might well have been Pinter’s prototype, often expressing herself with exactly the same phrases. Why did she say such silly things? She said them because she was worn-out, and life weary, but doing her best to be ‘nice’. She couldn’t care less about what people thought about the cornflakes, or the fried bread. She had no interest in what was in the newspaper. She just asked so as to keep things going. I think this is the Meg of the play’s motivation. Even the flirting is just pretence and she plays the party games, hoping that no-one will tumble that she is really dead. The little glimmer of life in her is her love for Stanley. I think that is the problem. I don’t think Miss Hancock loved Meg enough. I don’t think any of the actors loved their characters enough. You can’t play a character unless you can love them – be they King Lear, Richard III, Lady Macbeth, or any of the Pinter roles unless you can love them. Do go to the Lyric and see ‘The Birthday Party’. You will find it interesting, though like me, you may not actually love it.
Times: Daily ay 7.30pm Matinees: 14th(1.30pm) 17th(2.30pm) 21st(1.30pm) 24th (2.30pm) Box Office: 0871 22 117 22
Tickets: From £9 Design: Jon Bausor Lighting Design: Jon Clark Sound Design: Nick Manning
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