Word: pinter
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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DIED. DONALD PLEASENCE, 75, stage and screen star; in St.-Paul-de-Vence, France. A chameleon-like character actor who could be as meek as he could be malevolent, he was 40 when he won international notice as the repellent Davies in Harold Pinter's The Caretaker. But his widest audiences were reached in more popular fare like The Great Escape (1963), Halloween (1978) and the James Bond film You Only Live Twice (1967) in which he played cat-loving archvillain Blofeld...
...also an intellectual and radical bandit. Chic but never showy, Hughes treats nothing as sacred in her clever analysis. At one point during a conversation, a pause ensues as the actors look deeply introspective. A voice over says, "You are now witnessing a Pinteresque pause. If this were a Pinter play, there would be a lot of these." There are also "commercials" during the play spoofing consumerism and suburbia...
Under Mark Brokaw's direction, the first act races along as cynical and funny, never dull or heavy. Silver's language is innovative, and his humor refreshing and barbed with commentary. Regarding Harold Pinter's Birthday Party; Arthur: "Who'd you play?" Todd: "The rapist." Arthur: "You were ten!" Todd: "It was private school." Or Arthur fearing implication for his molestation of Emma: Emma: "I had a memory." Arthur: "Don't dwell...
...Pinter produces a modern-day satiric comedy with this setting, pointing out the rampant nature of and numbing feeling which accompanies death. The ironic tone of the play is set with Ben's commentary about what he is reading in the newspaper. During the first few minutes of the play, we see Gus trying to tie his shoe while Ben fervently peruses the paper. Every so often Ben will throw the paper down in disgust, sigh, moan or scream and pick it up and continue reading. After the third or fourth angry outburst like this, Gus asks Ben what...
...going to set the world on fire with his intellect, but he feels. For this reason, he plays him with the utmost earnestness. He never lets a furrowed brow clear into enlightenment, but instead remains serious about what he is saying. This makes the humor of Pinter's words even more pointed. Zelman never gives in to the joke, but rides the satiric and ironic tone of his monologues until the horror and pain of them forces the audience to laugh. It is nice to see someone who has camped it up on the Pudding stage, show the wide range...