The Homecoming - Harold Pinter

Harold Pinter (1930 - 2008) Audiences seem emotionless at the absurd, not a whimper or a groan at the audacious theatre productions, it seems the audacious plays attracts the steely ‘emotions in-check’ theatre goer – their face set in stone, glued to the gleaming milky nakedness on stage as if reading a Owen Jones article in the Independent – unperturbed at the bulbous jelly wobble who scream like a new-born from ‘Le Morte D’Arthur'– ye-es, this is normal behaviour often seen parading around Leicester Square usually cuffed to an Officer of the law - still the audience walks-on unperturbed ... more

Harold Pinter was born in East London in 1930. Pinter is one of our most celebrated playwrights as well as being an accomplished screenwriter, actor, poet and director. Harold Pinter was the only child of Jack and Francis Pinter, a middle class Jewish family that had Polish ancestry. Pinter excelled at English , he could act and from an early age he enjoyed writing poetry. Pinter studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art only to drop out after the first year but this did not stop him from achieving great heights and he became the author of 15 sketches and 29 plays. Pinter wrote `The ... more

The lack of a theatre section means I have placed this opinion, on this play as performed at the London Comedy Theatre in the Autumn/Winter 2001 here: Analysis of the performance of Harold Pinter’s Homecoming. The homecoming is a play about the relationships in a very dysfunctional family, and their reaction to the homecoming of a woman, into their male only society. It also focuses on the change of roles, and the position of the dominance in the family. It moves from the father, Max, through to the sons, who challenge his position of power, and mock his previous position of dominance ... more

The homecoming is an insight into the human condition as are most plays from the theatre of the Absurd tradition. Pinter explores the dark side of human nature and he does it in a graphic and sometimes shocking way. His commitment to dramatic integrity is what truly makes his work so powerful. The homecoming can't be viewed as a simple play but instead as a microcosm of society and the inhabitants of that society. Pinter warns us that we must not become slack on our behaviour because we are only ever 2 steps from anarchy. The play is stunning, deep and thoroughly satisfying. ... more