“It’s certainly one of the most striking plays I’ve ever been involved in,” says director Simon Mott, “when I first read it, I thought ‘wow – this is unusual!’ but then couldn’t wait to start rehearsing it.”
First staged in 1958, it was the play that catapulted Pinter’s name into the public eye and led to him becoming one of the towering figures of British drama. The Times theatre critic called it a ‘comedy of menace’ at the time.
“It’s easy to see why.” says Simon “there’s a delightfully dark side to it.”
The action takes place in a run-down seaside boarding homes” target=”_blank”>house run by ‘Meg’, played by Catherine Henderson, and her husband ‘Petey’ played by Mark Bloomfield.
Catherine said: “Apparently it’s based on an experience Pinter had himself when looking for digs as a touring actor.”
Pinter had met a man in a pub who said ‘I can take you to a place – but I wouldn’t exactly recommend it.’ and then took him to the place he was staying at himself.
Meg and Petey’s place isn’t much of a boarding house really, in fact it only has one guest, an out of work pianist, that is until some unusual visitors arrive to turn their hum-drum world upside down.
One of those visitors is ‘Goldberg’ played by theatre regular Peter Scofield, he is accompanied by ‘McCann’ played by Ash Hambrook, a sinister Northern Irish henchman who appears to have a shady past.
But why have they come?
And how do they know Stanley, the boarding house’s sole resident?
Ash said: “It’s clear they do know him and they have certainly come on some kind of mission – but it remains to be seen just what that mission is, and what their intentions are.”
And what of this solitary guest, ‘Stanley’ the one-time concert pianist who never seems to play the piano?
Ben Latham, who plays him, said: “He’s a wreck of a man who barely bothers to get dressed each day, so one wonders what his visitors want from him – and just what is his true past life.”
“We have staged it before actually.” adds Kim Riley-Shipperbottom, who takes on the role of ‘Lulu’ and also serves as BLT’s Chairman, “It was way back in 1959, right after it was first produced actually – and it’s intriguing to know that Bolton Theatre, and Bolton Evening News (as it was then) who reviewed it, were instrumental in Pinter’s rise to fame – that was the last year he was a struggling actor unknown to the wider public.”
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Indeed Pinter, who came up to Bolton to oversee the rehearsals and staging of that fledgling production at BLT, went from strength to strength after that, writing over 30 plays, numerous screenplays and being hailed as one of English drama’s masters, even having a theatre in London named after him.
“And it all started with this play,” adds Simon, “had audiences and critics, who were undoubtedly bemused by its menacing themes, not eventually taken to it, we might never have heard of Harold Pinter ever again.”
‘The Birthday Party’ runs from Saturday 1st to Saturday 8th of February 2025 at 7:30 pm (with a matinee performance on Sunday 2nd February at 2:00 pm) at Bolton Little Theatre, Hanover Street, Bolton BL1 4TG.
For tickets visit www.boltonlittletheatre.co.uk or ring 01204 524469.