The Birthday Party @ Norwich Playhouse
A perfectly-pitched production
London Classic Theatre return to the plays of Harold Pinter in this, their 34th production, and brings The Birthday Party to Norwich Playhouse as the second stop on a gruelling tour that takes in no less than 37 provincial theatres before completing in Coventry on June 18th.
As we take our seats the stage is already set – an elevated room-sized set, dropped like a fifties time capsule into a darkened void. Sparse yet authentic in its period austerity, this will provide the focus for all three acts in this tale of mystery and intrigue spread over twenty-four hours in this living room of a seaside boarding house.
The company's cast bring a vast range of experience to the production, and it is clear that director Michael Cabot has worked effusively in encouraging each actor to contemplate the ambiguities and mysteries contained within their role. Cheryl Kennedy plays Meg to perfection as the dutiful if slightly vacuous wife to Ged Mckenna's solid and reliable, but perhaps not-so-blinkered, Petey. Gareth Bennett-Ryan is genuinely disturbing as lonesome boarder Stanley, whose behaviour becomes even more erratic following the arrival of the menacing Goldberg (Jonathan Ashley) and his accomplice McCann (Declan Rodgers). Lulu (Imogen Wilde) side-steps her final piece of the jigsaw and gives little away of her true relationship with either Stanley, Meg or Petey, but remains critical in exposing the lascivious weaknesses of Goldberg.
Yes, this play is a modern classic, and for many of us will evoke memories of sixth-form essays, and of discussing the use of the Pinteresque Pause. This is a production which reminds contemporary audiences of past Cold War paranoias and dystopian fears whilst identifying contemporary parallels of terrorist activity and intelligence gathering, personal liberty and religious freedom. It is not so much what we do know, but what we do not know that can sometimes make the world seem such a terrifying place.
A perfectly-pitched production that wrenches every last nuance and contradiction out of Pinter's script. A must-see.
9/10
