TWO BY PINTER @ NORTH COAST REP

“Two by Pinter”: Well Done, But Not Everyone’s Cup of Tea

Words by Kristen Fogle

Harold Pinter is a complex guy. Or rather, his plays are.

In fact, those in the audience last Sunday at North Coast Repertory Theatre’s “Two By Pinter: The Lover and The Dumb Waiter” all seemed to have the same to say. They didn’t get it. Maybe next time.

But Pinter is not for the casual theatergoer. He requires someone with devotion to drama. To art. To the Pinteresque.

Yes, Pinter’s style has become an adjective, and the Swedish Academy describes it quite well: “Pinter restored theatre to its basic elements—an enclosed space and unpredictable dialogue, where people are at the mercy of each other and pretence crumbles. With a minimum of plot, drama emerges from the power struggle and hide-and-seek of interlocution.” The definition goes on to remark that Pinter’s drama is a variation of absurd theatre, but has later more aptly been characterized as 'comedy of menace,’ a genre where the writer allows us to eavesdrop on the play of domination and submission hidden in the most mundane of conversations. In Pinter plays, the audience will “meet people defending themselves against intrusion or their own impulses by entrenching themselves in a reduced and controlled existence. Another principal theme is the volatility and elusiveness of the past.”

You can see how this might perplex some.

But for those willing to wade through it, Pinter’s pieces are masterful, and “The Lover” and “The Dumb Waiter” are two fine specimens. Both have interesting plot twists and are written with gifted, insightful actors in mind, which, as always, North Coast Rep provides.

In “The Lover,” the first line, a question, hits you automatically. A very proper husband asks his impeccably manicured wife if her lover will visit that afternoon—as if this were the most normal question to ask…as if he was asking her if the dishes were done or the dog was fed. Their disturbingly refreshing relationship, namely that the husband will allow the wife to take on a suitor while he is at work, is puzzling, but somehow, kind of charming. When we later see the lover engage in his bizarre sexual rituals with the wife, it is puzzling, but definitely humorous. What we come to learn about the lover brings things full circle and makes for a very satisfying “a-ha” moment.

Elaine Rivkin plays the wife, Sarah, with all the rigidity of a dutiful British housewife, but comes alive during her affairs with the lover. Mark Pinter (no relation to the playwright) exercises great diversity as both the husband and the lover, so much so that we are confused initially when the lover makes his entrance. Pinter is no stranger to this stage, however, and his performance in “The Lion in Winter” as the fiercely intense but comically golden Henry II is quite memorable.

The “Dumb Waiter” doesn’t quite have the same pay off, and is the more confusing of the two pieces. Initially we don’t quite know where we are—we think the two characters are inmates in a cell, perhaps. However, we come to learn that these two are in fact in a holding room of sorts in the basement of a house and that they are hit men awaiting instructions as to their next kill. After a while and some light conversation, the two are given terse commands for absurd dishes via an old dumb waiter, slowly making the younger hit man become edgy and paranoid. “The Dumb Waiter” is a bit Hitchcockian to me, which is why I enjoyed it, and Pinter sets up his climax (I’m not telling you!) nicely.

Another “The Lion in Winter” cast mate making an appearance in “Pinter” is Richard Baird, who in “Lion” played Richard, the heroic, regal heir to the throne. In this piece, he plays the younger of the two men, the working class, buffoonish, slightly obtuse Gus. (Cheers to the director of both pieces, David Ellenstein, who took great care to hone in on the physical elements of his characters—working the wife’s sultry/silly mannerisms and evoking these quirky, dimwitted attributes of Gus’.) The older gentleman is Frank Corrado, who is somewhat of a Pinter expert, and demonstrates it, as the more together, slightly mysterious Ben.

Though I am always drawn to sets this one was completely astonishing: two separate sets were utilized, which the crew had to strike and assemble in fifteen minutes. I have never seen a stage so completely transformed in such a short amount of time. It delighted the audience to make the acquaintance with a completely different time and place, and we were treated to an exquisite upper class living quarters and a formidable, dilapidated basement, respectively.

It’s worth the time to see this popular playwright done well, but if Pinter gives you pause, try “Dames at Sea,” up next at NCRT.

“Two by Pinter: The Lover and The Dumb Waiter”

North Coast Repertory Theatre

5/26-6/17

987 Lomas Santa Fe Drive, Ste D

Solana Beach, CA

858-481-1055

www.northcoastrep.org

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