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Screening: ‘The Birthday Party’
Film Screening: ‘The Birthday Party’ -Thinking Activity
This blog is part of Thinking activity task of Movie screening of The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter. In this blog critical aspects of the movie and play will be explored.
Pre-viewing Task :
Comedy of Menace: Whose plays are known so? Who termed it ? What are its peculiar characteristics? How is it different from Absurd Theatre ?
Comedy of menace is the body of plays written by David Campton, Nigel Dennis, N. F. Simpson, and Harold Pinter. The term was coined by drama critic Irving Wardle, who borrowed it from the subtitle of Campton's play The Lunatic View: A Comedy of Menace, in reviewing Pinter's and Campton's plays in Encore in 1958.
Difference between Absurd Theatre and Comedy of Menace :
- Comedy of Menace leans depicts realistic settings. It is showing situations that could happen in everyday life. In contrast, Absurd Theatre often includes surreal and symbolic elements. It explored the weirdness of human existence.
- Comedy of Menace revolves around the tension and threat within ordinary situations. It also highlights power dynamics. Absurd Theatre, on the other hand, focuses on the meaninglessness and absurdity of life itself.
- Comedy of Menace, especially in the style of Harold Pinter, uses a unique dialogue known as "Pinteresque." This involves pauses and silences to convey meaning. In Absurd Theatre, you might see more unconventional language use and breakdowns in communication.
Explain ‘Pinteresque’ – Pinter pause and use of ‘Silence’ in the play: a particular atmosphere and environment in drama.
Silence and pause are two distinguishing features in Harold Pinter's plays. In his works,words do not convey ideas. Instead words become barriers,while silence and pause conceive the real intention of each character.
Harold Pinter used silence and pauses in his plays to make them sound like real-life conversations. This was meant to make the audience feel uncomfortable, just like the characters. The pauses show that life and meaning are often confusing, just like natural speech with unfinished thoughts.
In traditional plays, there's usually a narrator or someone explaining things. Pinter's plays didn't have that. Instead, he wanted to show life without clear explanations, just like how it is in reality.
Pinter's style is part of the postmodern movement, which questions the reliability of language, the slipperiness of meaning, and the idea that there's one absolute truth.
This way of thinking challenges traditional ways of looking at the world. Pinter's use of silence and pauses breaks the usual expectations in theater, making the audience think about what's happening and question the purpose.
The Birthday Party’ – an allegory of ‘artist in exile and other interpretations.
"The Birthday Party" is like a story about artists who feel lost in a strange place. It shows the struggles of artists dealing with not fitting in and being far from where they want to be. When Goldberg and McCann show up, it's like outside pressures disrupting the artist's creative space.
The play is like a hidden story about politics. It shows how authority figures can be oppressive, and the character Stanley represents artists standing up against those trying to control and limit their freedom.
