Director of Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party, Lance Thompson, says the British play set in the ‘50s on England’s southern shore, had him hooked from his first browse in a bookshop.
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“The opening scene had me chuckling along from the outset, it reminded me of Henry and Min from The Goon Show. After that, it was the quick fire repartee that got me in,” Thompson says.
“To me the play's fairly simple. It's a ‘who-dun-it’ without the body. Pinter overlays a dark foreboding over the comedy, adding layers of menace, as the play progresses. In between chuckles, laughs and grimaces the audience gets to sift through the clues. Who are these people? What have they done? What are they doing in a run down boarding house on the south coast?”
The whimsical set design by Jim Matsinos adds to the audience’s unsettling as the play progresses.
Thompson says it's a difficult show from an acting standpoint. “As the pressures in the play build, each character in turn starts to fray at the edges. The only character that isn't drawn into the psychological melting pot is Meg (Diane Leslie). In her case her bubbly, rose-coloured attitude, verging on dementia, requires a tremendous discipline from the actor.”
To say that Meg is oblivious to the goings on around her is an understatement. So much so that following the birthday “party”, after downing more scotch than she has probably imbibed in her lifetime, she wonders why she has a “terrible headache”. In saying that, it’s no doubt a blessing she doesn’t remember the evening’s shenanigans.
One even questions if Meg’s seemingly benign husband Petey (John Hincks), who humours her much of the time, has a more seamy underbelly than first thought.
Paul Bishop, in his first major role, treads a fine line between cheery house guest and sinister crook as Goldberg. Stephen Harris’ turn as lodger Stanley is well balanced; and in his first wordy part as henchman McCann, Justin Hurst does well. Judy Campbell’s Lulu is the gangster’s moll to a tee.
Ultimately, it is up to the audience to decide who are the real bad guys, if in fact there are any, or whether the lodgers in this seaside home “on the list” are all living in a warped world of their own making. One thing is for sure, Meg will continue to live out her fantasy.