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Title: The Homecoming by Harold Pinter ISBN: 0-8021-5105-1 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 1966 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.75 (8 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: this play shows its age
Comment: This play caused a great controversial stir when it was first performed in 1965. This is supposed to be a classic example of an existentialist and absurdist play. It was Pinter's first stage play and the one that made his reputation. Although it was very daring and shocking in 1965, the play has aged and lost its freshness and original power, in my opinion. There are many other portrayals of dysfunctional families that have retained their freshness and power--such families have been a mainstay of drama from the time of the ancient Greeks. Shakespeare and even fairy tales have built themselves around exploring the dark and abusive aspects of the family dynamic. So Pinter's on to nothing new or radical here. The script as such is blatantly misogynist. The one female role, Ruth, has no lines that sound human--she comes across as a stilted android. Ruth is so obviously not a real woman but a male projection of lust, fear, possession, hate, and paranoia. I recently saw this play performed in Manchester, UK, and have to wonder why people still think this play, with all its misogynist posturing, is relevant to a contemporary audience. If it were just a black absurd comedy, it might have worked better for me, but Pinter seems to be aiming at something deeper and more menacing yet can't seem to make up his mind if we're supposed to be feeling sympathy with his characters or taking them (and the underlying meaning of the play) seriously or not.
Rating: 4
Summary: Family Reunion to Avoid
Comment: Pinter at his darkest and most experimental.
This play's first and second acts are of equal length down to the line.
Sexual deviance, abuse, name calling, assault and torture: these are the norm. These people make the rest of our families seem pretty good. The play is twisted and as much a psychological journey as anything else.
Pinter lives up the claim that his plays were like, "Beckett in doors," with this one. Though most of Pinter's plays have a dark edge to them, this one may even cross over the line, if you are paying close attention to what is really going on.
Worth reading at least twice, after the shock from the first time through, the second read (if read closely), becomes even darker and more forbidding.
Wonderfully written, and further proof that Pinter is one of the masters of modern British drama.
Rating: 5
Summary: It's Theatre of the Absurd, people!
Comment: I agree that this play could be viewed at totally crazy, but it's supposed to. I really loved this play. I think Pinter has an excellent way of making us step back, and be disgusted and enjoy a show at the same time.
It's not supposed to have a beginning, middle, or an end. It is more like real life than realism is. It's not a life full of 'Drama,'it's more like real life, only we can find it funny because it's not happening to us.
Read Pinter with an open mind, and a sense of humor. Try not to take him litererally, but read the subtext.
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Title: The Caretaker and the Dumb Waiter by Harold Pinter ISBN: 080215087X Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 1960 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Complete Works: One : The Birthday Party/the Room/the Dumb Waiter/a Slight Ache/a Night Out/the Black and White/the Examination (Complete Works) by Harold Pinter ISBN: 0802150969 Publisher: Grove/Atlantic Pub. Date: 01 November, 1990 List Price(USD): $14.50 |
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Title: The Birthday Party and the Room: Two Plays by Harold Pinter ISBN: 0802151140 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: 01 April, 1971 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Look Back in Anger by John Osborne ISBN: 0140481753 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 August, 1992 List Price(USD): $11.00 |
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Title: Sam Shepard : Seven Plays (Buried Child, Curse of the Starving Class, The Tooth of Crime, La Turista, Tongues, Savage Love, True West) by Sam Shepard ISBN: 0553346113 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 July, 1984 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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