30 PLAYS IN 30 DAYS: Play #6 "Other Places" by Harold Pinter

 

I have decided for the month of September to read 30 plays in 30 days. It is my belief that, if possible, a play should be read in one sitting to get a better inherent sense of the dramatic arc. Each day, I will write a short post here about the play of the day.

Play #6

Other Places by Harold Pinter, a collection that consists of three short plays:  A Kind of Alaska, Victoria Station, and Family Voices

Those who know me know of my deep and abiding love and appreciation of Harold Pinter's work. I remember being in high school and reading pieces like The Dumb Waiter and A Slight Ache for the first time and falling completely in love with the language. In college, I encountered works like The Caretaker, and perhaps my personal favorite (it was Pinter's own favorite, according to an interview on Charlie Rose) The Homecoming. I have owned this collection Other Places for a spell, but, for me, when I love a writer, I want to save some of their work for a later date, and that date came today (perhaps because I was talking about Pinter yesterday while discussing All Over). 

Other Places was first presented by the National Theatre, London, in 1982. A Kind of Alaska is perhaps the most enduring and received the most attention of the trio, and it is, arguably the meatiest of the three, presenting a side of Pinter that surprised some critics and audiences. Michael Billington wrote in The Guardian that, "A Kind of Alaska (which strikes me on instant acquaintance as a masterpiece) moves one in a way no work of his has ever done before." And while I am not sure I completely agree, there is no question that the piece is bold and creative with a great emotional payoff, while still posing some very interesting questions along the way. A note in the text from Pinter tells how the play was inspired by Awakenings by Oliver Sacks, a true story of people who, in a sense, froze in time with a sickness called encephalitis lethargica, "sleeping sickness". In the play, a middle-aged woman wakes up from this sickness, having stopped in time when she was a 16 year-old girl. Pinter's work in establishing her disorientation and confusion is masterful. With her is Hornby, who has been treating her all this time, often neglecting his own life in the process, and Pauline, Deborah's younger sister who was only 13 when Deborah fell ill and is now also a middle-aged woman. The initial production starred Judi Dench as Deborah, and one can't help but imagine how great this Dame of the theater was in the role. 

Victoria Station is a split stage conversation between a Controller and a Taxi Driver, and is a classic (and quite amusing) example of Pinter's theme of the spaces that often effect ability to communicate. A simple, short conflict, but it made me laugh out loud more than once. 

Family Voices was originally produced for radio on BBC 3 in 1981 before becoming a stage piece. Indeed, one can imagine it working well as a radio piece. It consists of 3 voices giving parallel monologues--- a son, mother and father--- in the form of letters. Whether these letters were ever sent is a matter we cannot be sure of. I found the piece to be filled with Pinter's usual beautiful writing, which often comes off as lyrical in its precision and honest directness. We may not always completely understand, but we know that the characters understand, which is good enough. 

I could go  on and on about Harold Pinter all day, as he truly is one of my heroes, but I won't do that right now. It is probably enough to know that he received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2005, an honor he very much deserved, and gave a speech that is still worth watching (a speech he had to send by video, as he was too sick with cancer to attend in-person).  You can watch it by CLICKING HERE