PINTER'S PEOPLE. To 23 February.

London

PINTER’S PEOPLE
by Harold Pinter

Theatre Royal Haymarket To 23 February 2007
Mon – Sat 8pm Mat Wed 3pm & Sat 4.30pm
Runs 2hr 5min One interval

TICKETS: 0870 901 3356
Review: Harriet Davis 1 February

Small gems from a major playwright.
Shortly after his seventy-fifth birthday, esteemed playwright and poet Harold Pinter was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. In addition to the inevitable surge of revivals and re-workings of his best-known work; this new-found recognition also drew attention to his earlier, largely ignored sketches and monologues, dating as far back as 1958.

Interestingly, despite their age, there is something strikingly contemporary about these sketches. Both light-hearted and dark, trivial yet weighty; they incorporate recognizable elements of ‘old’ Pinter and a taste for the current cutting-edge. It seems appropriate then, that they should be performed by the ‘new-wave’ of sub-cult British comedians.

Kevin Eldon is a good example. His television career began with I’m Alan Partridge (as did the excellent Sally Phillips’), and quickly progressed to Chris Morris’s controversial Brass Eye, and later the headache-inducing Jam

Phillips’ career followed a similar path, and any one of these sketches would not seem out of place in Phillips own Smack The Pony, or Green Wing for that matter.

As we would expect, the cast are excellent. Geraldine McNulty soars through the characters, and Bill Bailey is his usual amicable self. Sean Foley has a good eye for comedy and, perhaps more surprisingly, a feel for Pinter’s unique tenderness, particularly evident in Night.

Simon Hodgson’s design is seamless; his use of props and scenery efficient and fun. If there is fault to be found, it is in the television-style format that feels inappropriate for such a grandiose setting. The sketches themselves work well, though Tess suffers here from a misjudged sense of timing.

Ultimately, although any one of these pieces could exist independent of the rest; it makes sense to unite them in this way. Not only does the contrast strike a nice balance, it also helps to illustrate the relative simplicity of Pinter’s ideas, which resonate throughout his other – far bleaker – works of art.

Cast: Bill Bailey, Kevin Eldon, Geraldine McNulty, Sally Phillips

Director: Sean Foley
Designer: Simon Hodgson
Lighting: Jon Clark

2007-02-03 01:04:21