Product Description

Stanley Webber is visited in his boarding-house by two strangers, Goldberg and McCann. An innocent-seeming birthday party for Stanley turns into a nightmare.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #176713 in Books
• Published on: 1991-03-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

Customer Reviews

Comedy of Menace
This early play ran for only a few days and was panned by critics. It is now heralded as a classic of modern drama. The fear and tension are palpable throughout. Goldberg and McCann reduce Stanley to a gibbering wreck and the audience feel his trauma throughout.

It reveals the skeletons in all our closets and leaves us wondering why a "wheelbarrow" and a "TOY DRUM", at once innocuous and every day items, can be so menacing and downright scarey. Enjoy the fear.

Typical Pinter...
I first saw a production of The Birthday Party when I was at school, and was instantly struck by it. It's typical Pinter; very bleak and a somewhat depressing look at life, but is still a gripping read and is even more effective in the theatre. The speech is very rhythmic, and the way in which it speeds up and slows down lends much to it being a really scary (and confusing) play.

Sensationally Good
I had to read this play for my A level English lit. coursework, I wasn't expecting much as I hadn't seen any of Pinter's other plays and it sounds slightly dull. However after having read it in class with my classmates I see how wrong I was, a sensationally good play, with unbelievable characters that are yet so believable... then there's the inane chatter that fills most of the pages constantly causing me to stop and take stock of the importance of the majority of what I say. With dark wit throughout I sincerely hope I have the opportunity to see a live production of this near masterpiece.