Harold Pinter

1930-2008


Playwright, screenwriter, poet, essayist, actor, director, conscientious objector, and political activist, Pinter's theatrical career was bookended by two colossal flops. The Birthday Party, his first professionally produced play, was considered one of the biggest disasters of the post-war era. His final screenplay, an adaptation (and remake) of Anthony Shaffer's Sleuth, was a critical and financial bomb. In between, he produced a body of work which places him alongside Beckett as one of the most influential theatrical writers of the 20th century.

PLAYS:



The Room (1957)
The Birthday Party (1957), at right
The Dumb Waiter (1957)
A Slight Ache (1958)
The Hothouse (1958)
The Caretaker (1959)
A Night Out (1959)
Night School (1960)
The Dwarfs (1960)
The Collection (1961)
The Lover (1962)
Tea Party (1964)
The Homecoming (1964)
The Basement (1966)
Landscape (1967)
Silence (1968)
Old Times (1970)
Monologue (1972)
No Man's Land (1974), at right
Betrayal (1978)
Family Voices (1980)
A Kind of Alaska (1982)
Victoria Station (1982)
One for the Road (1984)
Mountain Language (1988)
The New World Order (1991)
Party Time (1991)
Moonlight (1993)
Ashes to Ashes (1996)
Celebration (1999)
Remembrance of Things Past (2000) [Stage adapt. of The Proust Screenplay; a collaboration with Di Trevis.]



Screenplays:

The Caretaker (1963)
The Servant (1963), picture at right
The Pumpkin Eater (1963)
The Compartment (1963) [Screenplay for unproduced film; adapt. for stage as The Basement (play)]
The Quiller Memorandum (1965)
Accident (1966)
The Birthday Party (1968)
The Go-Between (1969)
The Homecoming (1969)
Langrishe, Go Down (1970; adapt. for TV 1978; film release 2002]
The Proust Screenplay (1972) [Published 1978, but unproduced for film; adapt. by Harold Pinter and director Di Trevis for the stage (2000) Remembrance of Things Past]
The Last Tycoon (1974)
The French Lieutenant's Woman (1981), below
Betrayal (1983)
Victory (1982) [Published but unproduced]
Turtle Diary (1984)
The Handmaid's Tale (1987)
Reunion (1988)
The Heat of the Day (1988) [adapt. for TV]
The Comfort of Strangers (1989)
Party Time (1992) (Rev. & adapt. for TV)
The Trial (1993)
"Lolita" (1994) [Unpublished and unproduced]
"The Dreaming Child" (1997) [Published but unproduced]
"The Tragedy of King Lear" (2000) [Unpublished and unproduced]
Sleuth (2007)



Pinter was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005. In a videotaped response which has become the most famous Nobel acceptance speech in history, he delivered a vitriolic diatribe against American foreign policy, including this sensational accusation: "The United States supported and in many cases engendered every rightwing military dictatorship in the world after the end of the second world war". (He then proceeded to provide examples.)

In honor of one of the great voices of contemporary drama, let us (ahem)

...pause.

Merry Christmas

Shane Wallis

1975-2008

This year of loss continues for the DC theatrical community. Wallis was a rising young actor on local stages, and in recent years has populated productions at Washington Shakespeare Company, Rorshach Theatre, Baltimore Shakes, American Century Theatre, and the Source Theatre Festival. His theatrical skills included directing Spoon River Anthology at American Century. He also graced the area's larger stages, appearing as "Snake" in School for Scandal at the Folger, and was The Shakespeare Theatre's ensemble swing for Macbeth and Pericles. He was scheduled to appear in Arena Stage's Sweet Bird of Youth in 2009.

Shane was an accomplished combat choreographer, musician, and set constructionist. In addition to appearing onstage there, he was the associate technical director for Theatre J, which will be hosting a memorial service 12/29 in his honor. He leaves behind an extended family in Mississippi, including two young children.

Shane died in a motorcycle accident last week.

More Lights

It appears a tradition has been born. Last year, for the first time in 4 years, I spent a fortnight in Los Angeles. I used to visit much more often, but the regular routine faded, and my trips became more sporadic. Last year was the first time I had made the trip during the holiday season, and I found it to be so much more fun and rewarding than visiting during the summer, which was my previous habit. I lived in LA off and on, mostly on, for 20 years, and developed a tight-knit group of friends whom I now consider my family. (I wrote about them last year in these pages.)

This year, my plan to visit was not finalized until it became clear that I would have no work over the holidays. The less said about that, the better, though my continued unemployment allowed me to return to LA for more holiday fun. So, I suppose being Out Of Work is really a Christmas Blessing... yeah, I'll go with that.

My buddies Scott and Drew graciously offer me digs whenever I visit, in their spacious home in the hills above the San Fernando Valley. I have my own bedroom and bath, which allows me to stay out of my hosts' hair whenever possible. That was even easier than usual this year, as I arrived to a deserted manse, and had to pop next door to the French neighbors to pick up the house key. The Boyz were completing a two week cruise, so I was on my own for the first four days of my stay. I've been in their house many, many times, but I admit it was a bit eerie to putter around the place alone. Thankfully, they had failed to mute their home answering machine, so an unrelenting beep kept me company. An unrelenting beep. An UNRELENTING beep.

I'm lucky that another of my chosen family, Judy, tosses a bit of teaching my way whenever I show up in California. She runs the theatre dept at a prestigious private school, and she has the ability to hire me to teach a few workshops during my stay. I enjoy this part of my LA trips immensely, as I find her students focused and enthusiastic. And it gives me something to do during the day, when all my friends are working or otherwise unavailable to hang out. The only downside to this routine is the fact that these courses are all scheduled at ungodly hours of the morning. I suppose when I was in high school, I started class at 7:45 AM too, but my body does not remember those long ago days. The commute across the Valley, during morning rush hour, was the only negative aspect of my trip.

Well, that's not exactly true. This year, my visit was marred by an insidious bug which I apparently picked up from one of my flight mates on USAir. (Another reason I despise the strangers with whom I travel.) I did not begin to feel the effects of this germ until the very moment Scott and Drew returned from their travels, on my fourth day in LA. I came down, quickly and hard, with a sloppy cold, which turned from a sore throat into a hacking cough in 24 hours. I infected my hosts, who themselves were getting over illnesses contracted on the high seas, so we made a fine tubercular trio.

Nostalgia always plays a part in my Los Angeles sojourns, as I usually take the opportunity to catch up with various cronies from Days Long Gone. This year, I shared a meal with a grand gal I had not seen in over 20 years. Barbara and I were fast friends for several years right out of undergrad, and as students of my treasured acting coach Bobbi, we shared a real bond. Barb was one of those people who became very very important in my life for a brief while, then, for some reason, faded out. The last time I saw her, I visited her and her husband in the Hollywood Hills apt. they shared in the mid-80s. Barbara parlayed her interest in theatre into a career as a therapist, and now conducts a booming practice, catering to the loonies who make LA their home. Her husband Sam was a working actor back when I first met him, and has maintained a consistent career ever since (here he is in Lost, in which he plays mild-mannered dentist "Bernard").

But the highlights of my visits to LA are always the times spent with Scott, Drew, Claudia, and Judy. Together or separately, they remain my family. This year, as last, we spent a lovely evening decorating the Christmas Tree in my hosts' den. Though I see them separately during the week, that night is extra special, as it's the only time we five are together. Lots of laughs, lots of food, a good bit of booze, and lots of love. Humor is always central to the evening, but it is enhanced with a feeling which can only come from a long shared history. Claudia has been in my life since high school, so we are celebrating a whopping 35 years as friends. Judy and Scott came into my life over 30 years ago, and Drew, as the youngster of the group, has still been one of my closest friends for a quarter century.

It is Drew, actually, of whom I think when I wonder if this December Trip to LA has in fact become a tradition. He had a sad and chaotic childhood, the effects of which taught him to create his own traditions (and he has a buttload of them). The Annual Decorating Of The Tree has now become one, an evening which isn't really about hanging ornaments on branches. It's about our family.

The routine goes like this: as Drusis and Claud and Judy circle the tree, and I try to stay out of the way, Scott observes from his throne (the armchair), "It needs more lights."

(I wouldn't dream of contradicting him. He likes a BRIGHT tree.)

Ornaments are hung, a few traditional glass balls, but mostly, sentimental pieces Scott and Drew have picked up over the years. They reflect their interests and their loves. Peanuts and Ziggy and other whimsical items give the finished tree a distinctly original look. All the while, we five catch up on our lives, reminisce a bit, eat, drink, and laugh. It's not the wildest gathering ever created, but it is meaningful.

And I've discovered that I need it. I can't predict that I will be able to get out to LA every year at Christmas, my life does not have that kind of structure. But I like this new tradition of Drew's, and will do my best to make it happen as often as I can.

It hasn't been the best year for me, or for several others in the group. We've all had our dark times. But I've noticed, this year and last, that by reconnecting with my Scott and Drusis and Claud and Jude, it's not quite so dark.

When I see them, this family I chose, I get more lights.

Friday Dance Party: the Star Trek Can-Can

Again I must dispense with my self-proclaimed holiday theme for the dance party, and instead offer the above clip. It is in salute to The First Lady of Star Trek, who ascended to the Final Frontier this week (scroll down two entries).

In honor of Majel Barrett, enjoy this reverential look at the Trek universe...

Theatre Droppings: God Bless Us, Every One Day More

I freely confess that Les Miserables has been near the bottom of my list of favorite musicals, ever since the First National Tour settled in Los Angeles and bored the crap out of me. I sat in the nosebleed section, which should not have made such a difference for such a gigantic production, but it did. I could not make heads nor tails of the story, all the characters looked and sounded alike, and by hour number three, I was ready to storm that barricade myself.

But I'm glad I succumbed to the temptation to check out Signature Theatre's re-conceived, scaled-down version, as the cast includes several of my favorite performers, and the word on the street has been very good. I enjoyed this production far more than that monstrous snore-fest I saw in L.A., though I have to confess that I have not changed my mind much about the material itself. To call Les Miz a musical is a bit of a misnomer, as it was one of the first pieces to be called a "pop opera," and it resembles a traditional opera far more than a traditional musical.

Signature has done a bang-up job telling the story, which I never could follow in the L.A. version. Here, the large cast of characters was all very clear to me, as was the plot, which is a bit unwieldy. As has become common in Signature musicals of late, several leads have been imported from New York, with at least three of them having played their respective roles before, in Broadway or touring versions. But our local gang has stepped up to the plate as well, with Tracy Lynn Olivera and Felicia Curry powering through their ballads as well as any Broadway Babe. The music in the show tends to grab hold of your brain and refuse to let go, but the lyrics leave a lot to be desired. Is it only in translation that so many of the songs are built around a question mark? Or are French lyricists really so, um, questionable? So many numbers in the show have a Rhetorical Question as motif that the material would make any Debate Team feel at home. It seems like every song includes some sort of "Who Am I?", or "Can This Be?" or "Do You Hear The People Sing?"at its core. Once you notice it, you can't hear anything else.

Chris Sizemore is a solid physical and vocal presence in the one-note role of the leader of the student revolutionaries, and the lone comic interludes in the evening are handled exceptionally well by Chris Bloch and Sherri Edelen. The strong ensemble is populated with Signature regulars, most of whom were handling leading roles for the theatre when it was building its reputation in that crummy garage space around the corner from the current, swankier digs. With Sigulars like Stephen Gregory Smith, Chan McQuay, Amy McWilliams, Tom Simpson, Matt Conner, Eleasha Gamble, and James Gardiner in the large ensemble, the story is being told clearly and robustly. This production is a success, even as I continue to struggle to embrace the material. The creators are pretty shameless in attempting to yank at the heartstrings, with each Power Ballad soaring past another, reinforcing traditional opera's tendency to Tell Us About the character, rather than, you know, show us. And as soon as that charming little mite Gavroche turns up, you just know he's doomed.

Another waif in danger on current local stages is that little dickens Tiny Tim. I popped down to see Fords Theatre's annual Christmas Carol only to lend support to several buddies in the cast. I am not a big fan of this story, and I've freely confessed that my favorite version of the tale is Mr. Magoo's. So, I surprised myself by being completely sucked in by the show. Billed as a "ghost story of Christmas," this perennial production is in dynamite shape. Heading the cast for several years running is Martin Rayner, an actor who, incredibly, manages to underplay Scrooge. In fact, the entire cast treats the piece as a work of realism, and the result is a completely believable production, even as spooks materialize through doors, in balconies, and in mid-air. The Cratchit scenes, lead by MJ Casey and Kim Schraf, should be shown to acting students as examples of how to make very familiar text seem new and spontaneous. Generous support is provided by my buddies Steve Carpenter, Clinton Brandhagen, Elliot Dash, and Claudia Miller (I never cease to be amazed by the fact that my friends are always stand outs in their shows. It's a phenomenon.) I never in a million years expected to be so moved by a production of this old story, but Mark Ramont, who has restaged the classic for Fords, really pulled it off. I think I embarrassed myself by weeping more than a few tears. At A Christmas Carol!!!

Majel Barrett Roddenberry

1932-2008

The First Lady of Star Trek

Barrett's sporadic acting career was dominated by her involvement with the Star Trek franchise. She can be glimpsed in a number of films and television shows, including Westworld and Dr. Kildare, and as a contract player for Desilu Studios, she appeared in the Lucy Show episode in which Lucy dons a kangaroo costume. Her career received a boost when she was cast in Gene Roddenberry's first pilot for Star Trek, called The Cage. Her role as the second in command on the starship Enterprise concerned NBC executives, who were sure audiences would not accept a woman in such a position of authority. When the pilot was completely revamped a few years later, she was demoted to nurse, changed her name, and donned a platinum blond wig. Her recurring role as Christine Chapel occasionally moved center stage, usually in relation to her character's romantic attraction to the inscrutable Mr. Spock.

Barrett's involvement with Star Trek continued well beyond the original series, and as the wife, and later widow, of creator Gene Roddenberry, she remained the caretaker of the "Roddenberry Vision."

On screen, she followed up her stint as Nurse Chapel in the original series with another recurring role in The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, that of the flamboyant busybody Lwaxana Troi. Trekkies love her humorous encounters with the stoic Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard.

Barrett can be heard on almost all of the Trek vehicles, including animated and live-action series and features, as the voice of the computer. Before her death this week, she had completed work in that capacity, on the upcoming Star Trek prequel film.

Beam me up, Scotty.