Celebrating 60 years with a Birthday Party like no other

A play that was never expected to be performed is celebrating its 60th birthday in 2018. The Birthday Party, Harold Pinter's dark comedy, is entering its sixth decade with an all star cast. The creme de la creme of the British stage and silver screen are all putting their best spin on this comedy of menace.

As the curtain rises Meg (Zoe Wanamaker) and Petey Boles (Peter Wright) portray the proprietors of a homely, safe and largely 'run of the mill' guest house in a sea-side town "somewhere on the south coast" where their only guest, Stanley Webber (Toby Jones), has been staying for about a year. This opening sequence, with Petey's tea and cornflakes, is where the 'normality' (as it were) stops. Soon enough the audience is drawn down a rabbit hole of strange questions as to who Stanley is? Why is he here? And what has he done? When two strangers turn up, the charismatic Mr. Goldberg (Stephen Mangan) and his nervous companion McCann (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor), The Birthday Party gets a whole lot weirder...

I must admit I did sit through much of this play not completely knowing what was going on, but, as they say "that's Pinter for you"! What I did fully appreciate however, was how well the star studded cast brought this unsettling play to life. Stephen Mangan's larger than life Mr. Goldberg was a stand out performance for me. His mix of magnetic business man and creepy interrogate kept the audience on their toes, when would he next turn? Paired with Vaughan-Lawlor as the twitchy sidekick, the duo transformed the piece from comedy to unsettling drama in a matter of moments, dragging the loveable Meg and the crotchety Stanley (along with Lulu and Petey) from their pleasant existences into a vortex of self-doubt, bewilderment and ultimately stripping them of their facades and thrusting their true selves into the limelight.

With no clear conclusion the play ended with a resounding 'huh?' from its audience, however, mixed with the confusion was a defiant, though understated, sense of awe. This was no ordinary Saturday night at the theatre, where you leave the auditorium feeling all fluffy and warm and instantly thinking of something else. Oh no, The Birthday Party grabs your attention from the first scene to the final curtain call and doesn't relinquish you, ever.

View our show pages for more information about The Birthday Party, Harold Pinter Theatre.