Harold Pinter: Stages, Networks, Collaborations

Description

This important book offers a thematic collection of critical essays, ideal for undergraduate courses on modern British theatre, on Harold Pinter's theatrical works, alongside new interviews with contemporary theatre practitioners. The life and works of Harold Pinter (1930-2008), a pivotal figure in British theatre, have been widely discussed, debated and celebrated internationally. For over five decades, Pinter's work traversed and redefined various forms and genres, constantly in dialogue with, and often impacting the work of, other writers, artists and activists. Combining a reconsideration of key Pinter scholarship with new contexts, voices and theoretical approaches, this book opens up fresh insights into the author's work, politics, collaborations and his enduring status as one of the world's foremost dramatists. Three sections re-contextualize Pinter as a cultural figure; explore and interrogate his influence on contemporary British playwriting; and offer a series of original interviews with theatre-makers engaging in the staging of Pinter's work today. Reconsiderations of Pinter's relationship to literary and theatrical movements such as Modernism and the Theatre of the Absurd; interrogations of the role of class, elitism and religious and cultural identity sit alongside chapters on Pinter's personal politics, specifically in relation to the Middle East. Part One: (Re)situating Pinter, Critical Orientations 1 Pinter's Modernism(s) Revisited: A Drama Reliant upon Prose Basil Chiasson (Western University, Canada) 2 The Theatre of the Absurd as Professional Network in Harold Pinter's Early Career Harry Derbyshire (University of Greenwich, UK) 3 The Elite Pinter and the Pinter Elite James Hudson (University of Lincoln, UK) 4 'Too Much of a Modern?' Pinter's Jewishness Eckart Voigts (TU Braunschweig, Germany) 5 Pinter's Connections with the Middle East Ibrahim Yerebakan (Recep Tayyip Erdogan University, Turkey) Part Two: Pinter as Playwright, Playwrights and Pinter 6 'An insistence in my mind': Pinter's Writing Ethic Steve Waters (University of East Anglia, UK) 7 Beyond the Mainstage: Harold Pinter at the Royal Shakespeare Company Catriona Fallow (Queen Mary University of London, UK) 8 Theatre's Dark Matter: Pinter's 'Staging' of Systemic Violence and its Influence in Contemporary British Theatre Alex Watson (Royal Holloway, University of London, UK) 9 Faith, Telos and Failure: Pinter, Butterworth, Kelly David Pattie (University of Birmingham, UK) 10 The Crimpesque: Pinter's Legacy in the Theatre of Martin Crimp Maria Elena Capitani (University of Parma, Italy) Part Three: Conversations with Collaborators 11 Interviews