#1
Posted: 11/27/05 at 2:54pm
Anybody seen them yet? I saw them yesterday and loved them. What follows is not really a review so much as a collection of a few of my thoughts from the experience.
A caveat: This was my first exposure to Pinter. I was an Italian studies minor in college, so I know a little about theatre of the absurd from reading Pirandello but am by no means an expert, so forgive me if these thoughts are a little muddled or green.
The Room alone would be worth the ticket price, in my opinion. Mary Beth Peil is perfect as Rose, particularly in the opening moments -- a "conversation" with her taciturn husband, Bert, that's really a monologue as Bert ignores every word she said.
The rest of the cast is excellent as well: Thomas Jay Ryan's Bert, Peter Maloney's bizarre landlord; Kate Blumberg and David Pittu as the seemingly harmless couple who shake up Rose's one source of comfort, her meager room; and the fabulous Earle Hyman, who manages to turn the mood incredibly ominous while saying next to nothing as Riley, the mysterious visitor near the play's end.
What I loved about this production was it's wonderful use of silence. After Bert leaves, Rose scampers around the meager room doing pointless tasks merely because she has nothing better to do. It's amazing how captivating several minutes of no dialogue, just a woman scuttling around the stage straightening up chairs, can be.
I didn't enjoy the lighter Celebration as much as The Room, but it was still quite good. Great cast for this one as well, particularly Pittu as the pathetic waiter who spurts out unbelievable yarns of his grandfather's famous supposed friends.
I'm not going to offer my interpretations here. First of all, both these shows have been around for years -- decades, in the case of "The Room" -- and there's not much I can add to the volumes already written on them. But I did have fun watching the audience, many of whom apparently had no idea who Pinter even is, trying to bundle together a pat explanation from what they've just seen. What did Rose's last line mean? What was Riley trying to say?
My advice, if you're going to see it for the first time like me, is don't even bother with trying to tie up either show with a bow. This isn't an M. Night Shyalaman movie with a magic twist that brings everything together. You're supposed to leave a little uncomfortable from it, I think.
In a recent interview, Frances Sternhagen talked about her own experience in a Pinter play. She asked Pinter to explain one of her lines to her. She said he responded: "I don't know. I just wrote it." Go in with that attitude. Just enjoy an evening of good theater.
(and as a side note, I saw Seascape on the same day, which made for a really good combination)
A caveat: This was my first exposure to Pinter. I was an Italian studies minor in college, so I know a little about theatre of the absurd from reading Pirandello but am by no means an expert, so forgive me if these thoughts are a little muddled or green.
The Room alone would be worth the ticket price, in my opinion. Mary Beth Peil is perfect as Rose, particularly in the opening moments -- a "conversation" with her taciturn husband, Bert, that's really a monologue as Bert ignores every word she said.
The rest of the cast is excellent as well: Thomas Jay Ryan's Bert, Peter Maloney's bizarre landlord; Kate Blumberg and David Pittu as the seemingly harmless couple who shake up Rose's one source of comfort, her meager room; and the fabulous Earle Hyman, who manages to turn the mood incredibly ominous while saying next to nothing as Riley, the mysterious visitor near the play's end.
What I loved about this production was it's wonderful use of silence. After Bert leaves, Rose scampers around the meager room doing pointless tasks merely because she has nothing better to do. It's amazing how captivating several minutes of no dialogue, just a woman scuttling around the stage straightening up chairs, can be.
I didn't enjoy the lighter Celebration as much as The Room, but it was still quite good. Great cast for this one as well, particularly Pittu as the pathetic waiter who spurts out unbelievable yarns of his grandfather's famous supposed friends.
I'm not going to offer my interpretations here. First of all, both these shows have been around for years -- decades, in the case of "The Room" -- and there's not much I can add to the volumes already written on them. But I did have fun watching the audience, many of whom apparently had no idea who Pinter even is, trying to bundle together a pat explanation from what they've just seen. What did Rose's last line mean? What was Riley trying to say?
My advice, if you're going to see it for the first time like me, is don't even bother with trying to tie up either show with a bow. This isn't an M. Night Shyalaman movie with a magic twist that brings everything together. You're supposed to leave a little uncomfortable from it, I think.
In a recent interview, Frances Sternhagen talked about her own experience in a Pinter play. She asked Pinter to explain one of her lines to her. She said he responded: "I don't know. I just wrote it." Go in with that attitude. Just enjoy an evening of good theater.
(and as a side note, I saw Seascape on the same day, which made for a really good combination)
