A Kind of Alaska in Bristol, UK

Bristol Old Vic presents a double bill of Pinter's A Kind of Alaska and Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape.It is on from 5 Apr - 12 May.  There will also be post-show discussions on 18, 25 Apr and 2, 9 May 2012.  The productions are directed by Simon Godwin and designed by Mike Britton.

"Two short plays by Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter in a rare pairing that brings together two of the most influential writers of the twentieth century.

A Kind of Alaska: Deborah wakes after 29 comatose years to a reality she cannot accept, relationships she does not remember and a body she no longer knows. In this brief awakening, she begins to understand that she has spent the prime of her life like this, trapped within a waking sleep.Krapp's Last Tape: On his birthday, a sixty-nine year old Krapp listens to a recording of his younger self. But, after a life of failure, withdrawal and physical decline, the youthful idealism that confronts him makes the passing of time even more acute."

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The Dumb Waiter and The Lover in York, UK

York Theatre Royal present a double bill of The Dumb Waiter and The Lover on 4- 5 Apr 2012.

"In The Dumb Waiter, two hit-men are waiting in a basement room to do a job.  Strange messages keep appearing via a serving hatch. Who are they from? Why are they waiting? And who is their next victim?

In The Lover, Richard and Sarah have been married for 10 years. Every morning he commutes into the City to pour over balance sheets and graphs while she shows her lover the hollyhocks."

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No Man's Land in Sydney, Australia

Sydney Theatre Company and Queensland Theatre Company present No Man’s Land.  It is on from 28 Oct- 11 Dec 2011.

"Written by a mid-career Pinter in 1975, No Man’s Land is a haunting, enigmatic and darkly comic meditation on memory; its unreliability, the impossibility of it recording absolute truth and its potential to be used as a means of manipulation. It was a subject that preoccupied the playwright and that he returned to in a number of plays...
 

Pinter wrote No Man’s Land for British theatrical stalwarts Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud… it’s been a long wait but now two of Australia’s own most accomplished stage actors – John Gaden and Peter Carroll – take on these incredible roles. As Hirst and Spooner they will play two men from entirely different backgrounds who somehow find a fascination with, and understanding of, each other. Savouring Pinter’s precise, spare dialogue, linguistic games and famous silences, this new interpretation of a modern classic is a must-see for Pinter aficionados and novices alike."

The director is Michael Gow.  Click on the image for more details.

One for the Road, The New World Order, Precisely, Mountain Language and Press Conference in London, UK

Five short plays by Harold Pinter: One for the Road, The New World Order, Precisely, Mountain Language and Press Conference.

It is presented by The Barbican at Shoreditch Town Hall from 16 Nov- 11 Dec 2011.
(no shows from 28 Nov to Dec 4).  It is directed by Ellie Jones.  Click on the image for more details.  Highly recommended.

Betrayal in Benton County, USA

Betrayal directed by Nick Radcliffe is at the Vinton Country Club on 11- 12 Nov 2011.  Details are here.

RSC's The Homecoming in Stratford-upon-Avon, UK

The Royal Shakespeare Company present The Homecoming though to 15 Oct 2011.  The play is likely to transfer to London.

The actors are Des McAleer (Sam), Aislin McGuckin (Ruth), Richard Riddell (Joey), Justin Salinger (Teddy), Jonathan Slinger (Lenny) and Nicholas Woodeson (Max).  The director is David Farr, designer Jon Bausor, lighting Jon Clark, sound  Martin Slavin and fights Kate Waters.

"After all, we're brothers... After nine years as professor of philosophy in America, eldest son Teddy returns to his North London family home with his wife Ruth. As his foul-mouthed father and low-life brothers battle to impress her, Ruth appears to find herself strangely at home and Teddy's grip on her loosens.   Finally familial rivalry explodes into a violent assault on moral and sexual order in Pinter's funniest and darkest play."  Click on the image for more details.

The Dumb Waiter and nine short plays in New York, USA

The National Asian American Theatre Company present The Dumb Waiter, plus Pinter short plays.  It is on from 6 Oct- 6 Nov 2011.

"Two hit-men. A basement. An assignment.  A tragicomic steampunk mystery."

A short Pinter piece will precede each performance:  Trouble in the Works, The Black and White, Request Stop, Last to Go, Special Offer, Night, That's Your Trouble, That's All, and Dialogue for Three.

The Dumb Waiter is with Louis Ozawa Changchien and Stephen Park.  The shorts are performed by Cindy Cheung, Jackie Chung, Joel de la Fuente, Andrew Eisenman, Jennifer Ikeda, Peter Kim, Sue Jean Kim, C. S. Lee, Ken Leung, Orville Mendoza, Alfredo Narciso, Nicky Paraiso, Kelly Coffield Park, Debargo Sanyal, Jon Norman Schneider, Ching Valdes-Aran, Tiffany Villarin, Virginia Wing, and James Yaegashi, among others.

The director is Andrew Pang, music Minq Vaadka.  Other roles are by Joseph M. Gourley (set design), Adam Cochran (sound design), Stephen Petrilli (lighting design), Charley Layton (dialect coach), Olivera Gajic (costume design), Kate Katigbak (postcard design) and Ed Herman(stage manager).

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Old Times in Chicago, USA

Strawdog present Old Times from 9 Oct- 12 Nov 2011.

"In a secluded country home, Kate and Anna reunite for the first time in more than a decade to reminisce about their bohemian youth in the streets of London. But if they were as close as their stories suggest, why has Kate's husband, Deeley, never heard of Anna before tonight? After-dinner drinks turn dangerous as history is written and rewritten, and each new revelation or fabrication might eliminate one of them entirely."

The director is Kimberly Senior.  Click on the image for more details.

Betrayal auditions in Benton County, USA

Betrayal directed by Nick Radcliffe is at the Vinton Country Club on 11- 12 Nov 2011.  Auditions are being held on 25- 26 Sept 2011.  Details are here.

One for the Road and Victoria Station in London, UK

The Print Room/Young Vic present One for the Road and Victoria Station from 6- 15 Oct 2011.  It is on at The Print Room.

"One for the Road is a mini masterpiece- Pinter's famously compelling study of the horrors of dictatorship.  Each member of Victor’s family is held in a separate room. Prisoners of the sadistic Nicolas and at the mercy of a brutal government, they are only metres apart but completely alone. As husband, wife and seven year old son are interrogated one by one, all they can cling on to is their innocence. 40 minutes of terror."

Victoria Station is an acclaimed black comedy complete in 10 minutes... A minicab controller is in a rage with one of his drivers. He is outraged that his orders are being ignored - but the driver is distracted by something mysterious and far more worrying."

Click on the image for more details.  Recommended.

Betrayal in Canada

Betrayal is on at the Western Canada Theatre in Kamloops, BC from 22 Sept- 8 Oct 2011.  Click on the image for more details.

The Room in North Carolina, USA

The University of North Carolina Wilmington Department of Theatre presents The Room in a double bill with Ionesco's The Bald Soprano.  They are on from 22- 25 Sept and 29 Sept- 2 Oct 2011 in the SRO Theatre of UNCW's Cultural Arts Building.

The Room is directed by Charles Grimes.

"Pinter adapted this theatrical fashion into a more realistic style, depicting through theatrical images how a world deprived of sense, purpose and rationality exacts a severe toll on the human psyche. In The Room, the occupants of a derelict boarding house are visited by an increasingly menacing set of visitors, concluding in a frightful loss of place, security and self."

Ionesco and Pinter's vision of 20th-century anxieties endures into the 21st, according to theatre instructor Charles Grimes, who directs The Room. "Drama is about the hidden underpinnings of life," he said. "The Room reveals the gap between what we try to make out of our lives, and what life and fate can always do to us."

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The Birthday Party in Glossop, UK

The Partington Players Theatre in Glossop, Derbyshire present The Birthday Party from 3- 8 Oct 2011.  It is directed by Rachel Gray.

"A comedy with menace. Set in a seedy boarding house at a run-down seaside resort on the South coast, Pinter’s brilliant dialogue and inspired invention create a bizarre masterpiece. A rare opportunity to see a landmark of post-war theatre ."

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