Harold+Pinter

=**Harold Pinter ** = 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008

= = //**Pinter's Dramatic Writing has, collectively, a strong coherence, a sense of continuity and evolution, and forms a body of work that invites constant re-evaluation **// .

Biography
 Harold Pinter was born on October 10th, 1930 in his parent's house in Hackney, north London. His parents names were Jack and Francis Pinter. During the war, he and his family left London several times to avoid bomb drops. In 1944 he accepted a spot at Hackney Downs Grammar School, where he met Joe Brearley, an influential figure in his life. In 1947, Pinter was seen and reviewed in the //News Chronicle //. He had been acting in MacBeth. 1948 was a big year for Pinter.

He was accepted to and attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Later that year he was chosen by the National Service (akin to the American 'draft') but registered as a conscientious objector. He is eventually brought before a military tribunal and arrested. He dropped out of RADA and read and wrote while he applied for acting jobs.

Pinter's poems were first published in the August edition of //Poetry London // in 1950. Later that year, he debuted his career as a professional actor in //Focus on Football Pools //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">. In 1951 he went back to school, this time at the Central School of Speech and Drama. At the end of spring term, he was hired by Anew McMaster for a Shakespeare tour around Ireland. During that tour he discovered Samuel Beckett, another influential figure. While writing both poetry and novels, he decided to adopt a stage name: David Baron. In 1956 Pinter acted in Bournemouth, where he met his soon-to-be wife, Vivian Merchant.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Their marriage sparked Pinter's imagination, for 1957 ushered in his first three plays: //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Room //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">, //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Birthday Party //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">, and //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Dumb Waiter //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">. 1959 marked the internationalization of Pinter with a performance in Germany's Frankfurt Municipal Theatre. His plays also transferred to radio, TV, and film in 1959, 1960, and 1963 respectively. His first performance in the USA was in 1960 and his first Broadway performance was //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Caretaker //<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> in October of 1961. He retires David Baron in September of 1960. In 1966 Pinter was ordained Commander of the Order of the British Empire. In 1970 he was awarded the German Shakespeare Prize. In 1980 he married his second wife, Lady Antonia Fraser. 1994 added another milestone to his already impressive career with the first Pinter Festival held at the Gate Theatre in Dublin. It consisted of six of his plays: Betrayal, The Dumb Waiter, Old Times, One for the Road, Moonlight, and Landscape. In 1995 and 1996, he was awarded the David Cohen British Literature Prize and the Laurence Olivier award for his lifetime achievements in literature. He was also awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005. Click [|HERE] to listen to Pinter's Nobel lecture. He died in 2008.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Common Themes

 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Pinteresque: (as defined by the OED) of or relating to Harold Pinter; resembling or characteristic of his plays. Pinter's plays are typically characterized by implications of threat and strong feelings produced through colloquial language, apparent triviality, and long pauses.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Comedy of menace
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"Two silences" or the Pinter Pause
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">How do we know what we know?
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Absurdism
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Nonlinear plots and complex characters
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Illogical dialogue and events
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The importance of language
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Disintegration of the mind
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Cruelty of people to their fellow beings
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Nihilism (belief in nothing)

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Plays

 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Room (1957) short
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Birthday Party (1957)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Dumb Waiter (1957)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">A Slight Ache (1958) short
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Hothouse (1958)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Caretaker (1959) screenplay (1963)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">A Night Out (1959)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Night School (1960)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Dwarfs (1960)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Collection (1961) short
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Lover (1962) short
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Tea Party (1964)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Homecoming (1964)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Basement (1966) short
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Landscape (1967)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Silence (1968) short
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Old Times (1970)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Monologue (1972)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">No Man's Land (1974)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Betrayal (1978)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Family Voices (1980)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Other Places (1982)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">A Kind of Alaska (1982)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Victoria Station (1982)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">One For The Road (1984)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Mountain Languages (1988) short
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The New World Order (1991)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Party Time (1991)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Moonlight (1993)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Ashes to Ashes (1996)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Celebration (1999)
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Remembrance of Things Past (2000)

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Return to Drama in the Twentieth Century

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">References
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 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> //Harold Pinter.org// . 2003. Web. 22 May 2010. <http://www.haroldpinter.org/home/index.shtml>.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"Harold Pinter | Culture | Guardian.co.uk." Latest News, Comment and Reviews from the Guardian | Guardian.co.uk. Web. 07 Oct. 2010. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/pinter>.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"Harold Pinter." //Parkside Players.co.uk//. Web. 22 May 2010. <http://www.parksideplayers.co.uk/harold_pinter.htm>.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Liukkonen, Petri. "Harold Pinter." Www.kirjasto.sci.fi. 2008. Web. 07 Oct. 2010. <http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/hpinter.htm>.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Raby, Peter. // The Cambridge Companion to Harold Pinter // . Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2001. Print.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Billington, Michael. "The Most Provocative, Poetic and Influential Playwright of His Generation | Culture | Guardian.co.uk." //Latest News, Comment and Reviews from the Guardian | Guardian.co.uk//. Guardian, 25 Dec. 2008. Web. 20 June 2011. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2008/dec/25/pinter-theatre>.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> Contributors
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Karen Bilotti