Five plays that could well live up to their hype Aug 8, 2008
Though his pause-laden plays are known around the world, Nobel Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter's novel The Dwarfs, written in 1956, didn't get published until the 1990s. Set in his old neighbourhood of Hackney, London, the autobiographical work was recently adapted for the stage. (Globe and Mail)
Joseph McCrindle, founded Transatlantic Review; at 85 Jul 19, 2008
It offered an eclectic mix of knowns and unknowns - John Updike, Harold Pinter, Anthony Burgess, and Iris Murdoch among the knowns - along with drawings, film criticism, and interviews with writers. After closing the Transatlantic Review in 1977, Mr. McCrindle created the Henfield Foundation, now called the Joseph F. McCrindle Foundation, to award grants to arts, music, and social justice organizations. (Boston Globe)
Dark and reflective in deed and design Jul 4, 2008
To some extent it is Greek tragedy mixed with Harold Pinter, but he reveals sufficient promise to strike out in his own forceful direction. Although the 75-minute work loses momentum and suspense through circular conjecture and repetition, there's no disputing the strength of Matthew Lutton's intelligent direction or of the designer Adam Gardnir's spectacularly stained bathroom setting; its dark reflective surfaces, claw-footed tub and threatening ceiling fan adding enormously to the drama's... (Sydney Morning Herald -- Entertainment)
Bacall has a few words on the state of things Jul 3, 2008
Q: There can't be too many actors who can say they've been directed by Howard Hawks, John Huston, Douglas Sirk, Rob Reiner, Harold Pinter, Barbra Streisand and Lars von Trier ... Certainly Harold Pinter did, but of course Harold is not writing plays anymore. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Magnificent Krapp's spool of life Jun 30, 2008
You would have paid full price to see Al Pacino in Hughie in New York or Harold Pinter in Krapp's Last Tape in London, but here Dennehy performs both one-act plays as a double bill. It's a real bargain, allowing you to watch the two-time Tony winner play contrasting roles as a smooth-talker and a listener in the same night. (Globe and Mail -- Entertainment)
'Kicking a Dead Horse': A search for authenticity in the American West Jun 23, 2008
"That's why he's been directed by Beckett and Harold Pinter and Sam Shepard.". For "Kicking a Dead Horse" Rea also has to tangle with the physical intricacies of roping (and being roped in by) a dead horse, and Shepard brought in Bill Irwin the other day to teach him some tricks. (International Herald Tribune)
Our Shakespeare: The Final Fraud! Jun 20, 2008
Restoration dramatists such as Thomas Otway, John Dryden and William Congrave show signs of his influence as well as modern playwrights John Osborne, Harold Pinter, Samuel Beckett and George Bernard Shaw. Shaw rewrote the last act of Cymbeline, Tom Stoppard developed new characters for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and Edward Bond created his own version of King Lear. (Suite101.com)
Britain honors writer Drabble, editor Wintour Jun 15, 2008
Richard Rogers, the architect of Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5, was made a Companion of Honor, an award limited to 65 living people including theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, former Prime Minister Sir John Major and dramatist Harold Pinter. In descending order, the main honors are knighthoods, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, OBE and Member of the Order of the British Empire. (Sioux City Journal, IO)
Bakewell's start Jun 14, 2008
But while Bakewell's career took off, her private life was in turmoil as she embarked on an affair with Harold Pinter - who she had met through her husband, then the BBC's head of plays. Their scorching dalliance lasted seven years, even through her second pregnancy, as the couple met undercover in a friend's flat, then in a place of their own. (BBC News -- UK)
Tonys: Who should win, who will win Jun 13, 2008
Should/will win: It'll be neck and neck between Boeing, a brilliant revival of a dated comedy, and Homecoming, a brilliant revival of a Harold Pinter gem. My money's on Pinter. (USA Today -- Life)
'I'm not a missionary' Jun 12, 2008
"Or last November, when the sabre-rattling was going on with Iran, we were going to march in there, or bomb it, or both. And they were actually using the story of: 'There's an evil dictator there, and there are weapons of mass destruction.' " Anderson pauses for effect - her pauses are probably second in their iconic power only to those of Harold Pinter - and says out of the corner of her mouth, "Everyone's like, 'Hmmm, sounds familiar ...' But it was kinda working with some people. That's the... (Globe and Mail -- Entertainment)
BTF's Caretaker opens season on high note May 31, 2008
Michael Billington, is his book The Life and Work of Harold Pinter, writes, "Pinter, to his credit, is a permanent public nuisance, a questioner of accepted truths, both in life and in art." Pinter himself asks, "Does reality essentially remain outside language, separate, alien, and should we be obliged to use language only in order to obscure and distort reality?" The Caretaker has a number of famous brief Pinter pauses. But these are punctuated with rapid-fire, machine gun delivery of dialogue... (Hillsdale Independent, NY)
Harold Pinter May 30, 2008
Local Search Site Search. THIS STORY HAS BEEN FORMATTED FOR EASY PRINTING. (Boston Globe)
Hay diary: Charlotte Higgins May 28, 2008
He recalled meeting Harold Pinter recently at a restaurant. He offered his failed audition anecdote to the playwright, topping it off with the words, "I can't help thinking that if you'd tried a little harder with the writing, things would have been very different." Brydon said that there had been a long, terrifying, Pinteresque pause before the great man did, mercifully, descend into laughter. (Guardian Unlimited)
A decade in books May 25, 2008
But all is not lost for serious literature: Ian McEwan tackles the Iraq war in Saturday and Harold Pinter wins the Nobel Prize. 2006. (Guardian Unlimited -- Books)
Dead Lepers? Sounds like my kind of show May 13, 2008
Imagine asking Harold Pinter to come up with something other than Old Times or Betrayal, just because you didn't like them. I bet he would poke you in the nose. (Guardian Unlimited -- Arts)
The amazing Mrs Bamber May 12, 2008
John McCarthy, the writer, broadcaster and former hostage is a fan, as are Billie Whitelaw and Harold Pinter. The actress Emma Thompson, who sits on the board of the Helen Bamber Foundation, describes her as 'a mentor. (Guardian Unlimited -- Society)
When will you British learn how to celebrate your success? May 2, 2008
This all reminds me of the day the Nobel Prize went to Harold Pinter ... It took foreigners to tell them: 'Yes, he is that good, no, he is not boring, Harold Pinter is a national treasure, your treasure ... While France was celebrating Harold Pinter's Nobel Prize, Tony Blair didn't even bother to reach for his phone and congratulate this great British playwright. (Guardian Unlimited -- Film)
With friends like these . . . Apr 19, 2008
And although Cohen, Anthony, Phillips et al have poured particular vituperation on leftwing playwrights (David Hare and Harold Pinter in particular), they have now been joined by one - David Mamet, who last month wrote a piece for the Village Voice entitled "Why I am no longer a 'brain-dead liberal'" (he no longer believes that "people are basically good at heart"). Like previous generations, these defectors have been there, done that, and can now bear witness to their former misbeliefs. (Guardian Unlimited -- Books)
Post-Gazette Critic's Choice theater tour group Mar 30, 2008
There were a couple of Harold Pinter classics available, but I went for "Dealer's Choice," a revival of a hit of a decade ago by Patrick Marber, author of the brilliant "Closer." And then there's the Fringe, all those theaters over pubs or under railway arches, although here, my choice of John Gay's 18th century satire, "Three Hours After Marriage," proved pretty amateurish -- my one wrong step. Note that I haven't even mentioned musicals, the chief category for picking shows on Broadway. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA)
Anthony Minghella: gentle genius Mar 23, 2008
One obituary said he was Orson Welles, Harold Pinter, David Lean and Richard Attenborough all rolled into one. Certainly he had a Wellesian presence with his bald football of a head atop a portly figure, often draped in Johnny Cash black. (Times Online)
The week's best films Mar 22, 2008
The higher-brow alternative to James Bond (and even Harry Palmer), this is an intelligent and suspenseful spy thriller scripted by Harold Pinter. George Segal is Quiller, an agent investigating a neo-Nazi organisation in Berlin. (Guardian Unlimited -- Film)
Tributes pour in for director Minghella Mar 19, 2008
The Guardian newspaper said Minghella's "ample figure and cheery countenance exuded a love of life" and added that he "seemed to be Harold Pinter, Orson Welles, David Lean and Richard Attenborough all rolled into one". Of his adaption of 'The English Patient', The Times wrote that he "did not rely on pretty locations to carry his film, and effectively interwove complex story strands and managed to translate the poignancy and fatalism of the original... novel to the big screen". (iAfrica.com)
Obituary: Anthony Minghella Mar 19, 2008
Minghella, whose ample figure and cheery countenance exuded a love of life, seemed to be Harold Pinter, Orson Welles, David Lean and Richard Attenborough all rolled into one. A passionate supporter of Portsmouth football club, he was also a mixture of English restraint and Italian exuberance. (Guardian Unlimited -- UK)
Stravinsky experts in plagiarism row Mar 16, 2008
Matthews applauds Aret;, which numbers Harold Pinter, Tom Stoppard and Julian Barnes among its contributors, for running the controversial interview. In the past, major literary figures such as Derek Walcott, Seamus Heaney and Edward Said have all been savaged in its pages. (Guardian Unlimited -- World)
Who's afraid of 'Rachel Corrie'? Mar 7, 2008
News of the cancellation triggered criticism from all corners of the theater world, with prominent playwrights such as Harold Pinter and Tony Kushner and actress Vanessa Redgrave speaking out vehemently against the decision. The Workshop tried to backtrack, arguing that it needed more time to prepare audiences and "contextualize" the play with post-show discussions and even a companion piece. (Boston Globe)
Digested read Mar 4, 2008
"I was delayed by Harold Pinter and Tony Blair. You'd have thought they would have understood the pain of being woken by the sound of your son energetically shagging his girlfriend.". I nodded, tapping into my own existential well of sexually frustrated, mid-life misery. (Guardian Unlimited)
London Theater: Harold Pinter reveals humorous side; Oscar Wilde is gently touching Feb 19, 2008
You expect Harold Pinter's plays to be oblique, menacing, packed with those famous pauses which often seem to hint at the unspeakable. But funny, sometimes even raucously so. (International Herald Tribune -- Arts)
Bizarre love triangle Feb 15, 2008
"Remake" is perhaps the wrong word; it is essentially an adaptation of Shaffer's play, written by Harold Pinter, directed by Kenneth Branagh. As Caine points out, "I don't think Pinter was even aware that the movie had been made of it.". (Sydney Morning Herald -- Entertainment)
Welcome to theatreland Feb 13, 2008
The company plans to perform two pieces in England: Being Harold Pinter, which intercuts some of Pinter's short plays with letters from Belarussian political prisoners; and Generation Jeans, a monologue by Nikolai Khalezin performed with a DJ, in which he asks the audience to join him in the chant "I am free" ... Tom Stoppard has proved an enthusiastic advocate, as has Mick Jagger; Harold Pinter lets the company perform his work anywhere in the world without paying royalties ... Being Harold... (Guardian Unlimited)
Critics' picks - theater Feb 11, 2008
Rachel Harker is extraordinary in these two one-acts by Harold Pinter, "The Lover" and "Ashes to Ashes," which explore the effects of jealousy. First seen at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, Rick Lombardo's production closes today; Downstage @ New Rep. (Boston Globe)
He didn't want to make 'a playwright's movie' Feb 8, 2008
In his early, unsuccessful days, he imitated Harold Pinter and David Mamet, but it was the discovery of the Irish way of speaking, in summers visiting his parents, that he found his writing voice. He had his first stage success at 25. (Globe and Mail -- Entertainment)
Theatre's radical knight Feb 2, 2008
He rightfully occupies one point of the golden trinity of British theatre, with Tom Stoppard and Harold Pinter, and he has received numerous awards, including a BAFTA and a prestigious New York Drama Critics' Circle award. He has written some chamber dramas (including The Blue Room, in which Nicole Kidman made her semi-nude turn as "theatrical Viagra") but his plays are almost always political. (Sydney Morning Herald -- Entertainment)
Stars win grants reprieve for high-profile theatres Feb 2, 2008
The tiny Bush theatre, a cramped space up a scruffy flight of stairs above a west London pub, with a remarkable record of fostering new writing and acting talent, marshalled a galaxy of show business talents including Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellen, Daniel Radcliffe, Harold Pinter and Tom Stoppard - and duly keeps its entire grant of just under 500,000, plus inflation. Josie Rourke, its new director, said: "It has been a very stressful period, but the groundswell of support, not just from... (Guardian Unlimited)
UK TV awards honour Rowling Jan 31, 2008
Rowling joins a list of previous winners of the top prize at the awards, including Tom Stoppard, Harold Pinter, Helen Mirren, Richard Attenborough and last year's recipients, The Who. SOUTH BANK SHOW AWARDS WINNERS TV Drama: The Mark of Cain Classical Music: Traced Overhead: The Musical World of Thomas Ades Pop Music: Arctic Monkeys for Favourite Worst Nightmare Visual Arts:Andy Goldsworthy at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park Comedy: Gavin and Stacey Dance: Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company Film: This... (BBC News -- Entertainment)
Rowling grieves for lost wizard Jan 31, 2008
Previously presented to the likes of Harold Pinter, Helen Mirren, and the Who, Rowling's award was for making "such an important impact on the UK literary and film industries", according to the judges. "It has been the worst break-up of my life - far worse than splitting up with any man," Rowling said. (Guardian Unlimited -- Books)
Michael Billington reviews The Lover Jan 30, 2008
Harold Pinter has a long association with the Comedy dating back to A Night Out in 1961. And these two one-acters, both originally written for television around that time, not only prove early Pinter survives well, they also remind us that Pinter, for all his touted mystery and menace, has always had a sharply comic eye and ear for the oddities of English middle-class life. (Guardian Unlimited)
Merkerson shines in 'Sheba'; Coens' 'Evening' is easy fun Jan 25, 2008
But Coen's scripts play more like parodies of Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter and David Mamet than works inspired by those playwrights. Despite the unsettling subject matter, the humor feels light and smart-alecky, the profanity almost whimsical. (USA Today -- Life)
Eaton Centre as stage dwarfs performance Jan 24, 2008
As the confident couple struggle to outwit Steve's placid resistance, small metal objects develops into a little power struggle worthy of Harold Pinter: The woman finally promises Steve she'll perform oral sex on him if only he'll move. This drama is greatly diluted both by Mr. Laherty's resolutely flattened delivery of his lines and by the way the mall and its crowd dwarf the actors' performances, but all that, of course, is precisely the point. (Globe and Mail -- Entertainment)
Pinter's thoughtsThe playwright's scrapbooks reveal his dramatic ambitions Jan 12, 2008
Nobel Prize winner Harold Pinter has sold a lifetime's accumulation of thousands of documents, photographs, theatre programmes, e-mails and other memorabilia to the British Library. The collection did not come cheap. (BBC News -- Entertainment)
Broadway re-elects David Mamet Jan 12, 2008
Richards and his producing partners also have made "November" part of a special "subscription" discount with two other plays he's producing, the Steppenwolf Theater Company's critical fave "August: Osage County" and the well-received Harold Pinter revival "The Homecoming." (The program offers three tickets, one to each play, for the price of two; so far there have only been about 500 takers. . (Variety)
10 great movies that need to be on DVD — now Jan 4, 2008
Far From the Madding Crowd(1967) andThe Go-Between(1971)The first is John Schlesinger's epic from Thomas Hardy's novel, and the second is the last of three screen collaborations between writer Harold Pinter and director Joseph Losey. Both star Julie Christie and Alan Bates, and both resonate the way all the best star-crossed romances do. (USA Today -- Life)
The best new journals Dec 31, 2007
Contributors include Tom Stoppard, Harold Pinter, Ian McEwan, Timothy Garton Ash, William Boyd, Wendy Cope, Adam Thirlwell, Patrick Marber. Frequency Tri-quarterly. (Guardian Unlimited -- Books)
Sir Ian McKellan tops the list. Dec 30, 2007
Previous recipients include scientist Stephen Hawking, former Premier Sir John Major, actress Dame Judi Dench, writer Harold Pinter and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough. Sir Ian, 68, said: "It is particularly pleasing that `equality' is included in my citation." Sir Ian was nominated for an Oscar in 2002 for his role as Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and recently fulfilled a long-held ambition to appear in Coronation Street. (Manchester Evening News)
From student rag to literary riches Dec 30, 2007
He is particularly proud of Elena Lappin's exposure of the fake Holocaust memoirist Binjamin Wilkomirski, and the issue he produced in the wake of 9/11, 'What we Think of America', in which Orhan Pamuk, Harold Pinter, Ariel Dorfman and many others examined the role that the US had played in their lives for good or ill ... There are love poems, including one from Harold Pinter. (Guardian Unlimited)
Year's best in New York theater: A list by Ben Brantley Dec 26, 2007
THE HOMECOMING' A production that confirms that the Nobel committee made no mistake in awarding its prize for literature to Harold Pinter in 2005. This superlative revival, directed by Daniel Sullivan, makes it clear that "The Homecoming" is not only Pinter's masterpiece but also a work that redefined forever the domestic drama. (International Herald Tribune -- Arts)
You can't keep a good schoolboy down Dec 23, 2007
Harold Pinter, who already has the Nobel, sold his archive to the British Library in a fine gesture of loyalty to English culture. The Booker concluded a mixed year with the most embarrassing chairman's speech, from Howard Davies, in living memory. (Guardian Unlimited -- Books)
In Praise Of Mr. Write Dec 21, 2007
Pinter and Noel Coward. Gore Vidal, who abandoned. (New York Post -- Entertainment)
"The Homecoming": You can go home again, but you'll pay the consequences Dec 18, 2007
Sara Krulwich/The New York Times All in the warring family: from left, Ral Esparza, Eve Best and Gareth Saxe in "The Homecoming," 40 years after this Harold Pinter play had its Broadway premiere ... Forty years after its Broadway debut titillated and outraged American theatergoers, this Harold Pinter masterpiece of family warfare continues to unsettle. (International Herald Tribune -- Arts)
12 hours + 3 writers + 3 acting troupes = 3 plays for 1 gala Dec 14, 2007
The British Library has bought the complete archive of playwright and screenwriter Harold Pinter for $2. 3 million Cdn. (CBC.ca)
This just isn't cricket Dec 14, 2007
Many cricket-loving writers - Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, Simon Gray, John Arlott - have employed the late afternoon of a cricket match as some kind of metaphor for life: the fading of the light at close of play becoming an image of lost time. The only available equivalent in day-night games - switching the generator off - lacks the same poignancy, expect perhaps for poems about euthanasia. (Guardian Unlimited)
British Library's 1.1m saves Pinter's papers for nation Dec 12, 2007
One of the most important postwar literary archives will remain in Britain after the British Library yesterday announced it had acquired the letters, manuscripts, scrapbooks, photographs, programmes and emails of Harold Pinter ... He added: "This is a wonderful collection that sheds new light on each stage of Harold Pinter's unparalleled career over the past 50 years."There are issues around some archives going to American institutions and we have been working very hard to fly the flag and... (Guardian Unlimited)
Library acquires Pinter archive Dec 12, 2007
The archive of Britain's leading writer and playwright, Harold Pinter, has been acquired by the British Library ... "This is a wonderful collection that sheds new light on each stage of Harold Pinter's unparalleled career over the past 50 years. "We look forward to making the material accessible to researchers, and to playing our part in celebrating his life and work. (BBC News -- Entertainment)
British Library Agrees to Buy Private Papers of Playwright Harold Pinter Dec 11, 2007
British Library Buys Private Papers of Playwright Harold Pinter ... Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- The British Library agreed to buy private papers belonging to playwright Harold Pinter, who won the Nobel Prize for literature in 2005, the library's Chief Executive Officer Lynne Brindley said. (Bloomberg -- UK)
Left at war in wake of communist raid on Indian village Dec 6, 2007
Led by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, a silver-haired playwright with a penchant for Harold Pinter and the novels of Gabriel Garc;a M;rquez, the communists say their actions were justified. But Prof Sarkar said that many were now disillusioned with the policies of the government in Bengal. (Guardian Unlimited -- World)
GHS sets the stage for two productions at the same time Dec 6, 2007
Kohn will direct the comedy "Bank Shot," which he wrote, and Teddi, a senior, will direct the Harold Pinter drama, "Betrayal.". It's the first time the school has performed a pair of full-length shows at the same time, creating constant logistical challenges. (Greenwich Time)
Noel Coward: A letter writer extraordinaire Dec 1, 2007
l Coward," edited and commented on by Barry Day, may come as a surprise to most readers. It abounds in both kinds of humor, as only Sir No?l (knighted very late in life owing to obstruction by Winston Churchill) could dish it out. But it follows like Day the knight that, given the editor's several books of Cowardiana, what we get is much more than just Coward's letters, however delectable. We also get letters to Coward, many of them as entertaining as the recipient's, for he corresponded with... (International Herald Tribune -- Arts)
The shows go on: Broadway comes back to life after 19-day strike Nov 30, 2007
And a revival of Harold Pinter s The Homecoming, which had been set to start previews the day after Thanksgiving, will now premiere Dec. 16. Popular musicals such as Wicked, Jersey Boys, Mamma Mia. (Somerset Daily American, PA)
Lessing to miss Nobel investiture Nov 29, 2007
British playwright Harold Pinter was unable to attend the ceremony due to illness after winning in 2005. Literary career. (BBC News -- Entertainment)
Lessing unable to attend Nobel ceremony Nov 29, 2007
The 2005 winner, Harold Pinter, stayed home in Britain because of poor health. In 2004, Austria's Elfriede Jelinek declined the invitation, saying she was "not in a mental shape to withstand such ceremonies". (Guardian Unlimited -- Books)
News in brief Nov 29, 2007
The 2005 winner, Harold Pinter, stayed at home because of poor health. Press Association. (Guardian Unlimited -- UK)
The feckless Sleuth of today... Nov 25, 2007
The patrician Olivier and the parvenu Caine brought this out brilliantly in 1972, but it goes for nothing in the updated version that Kenneth Branagh has maladroitly directed from a dismal Harold Pinter script, in which Caine has moved up into the role of Andrew Wyke and Jude Law (who succeeded Caine in the remake of Alfie) plays Milo. The setting might as well be the saloon bar in Albert Square's Queen Vic. (The Observer)
Crime and punishment Nov 24, 2007
Director: Kenneth Branagh, 15, 86min Stars: Michael Caine, Jude Law, Harold Pinter. On general release. (Times Online)
Sleuth Review Nov 20, 2007
A radical remake of the 1970s play and film, starring Michael Caine and Jude Law, directed by Kenneth Branagh and adapted by Harold Pinter ... The new script, by legendary playwright Harold Pinter, keeps just the basic set-up - two men competing over the older man's wife - and irons out practically every Shaffer curlicue. (Channel 4 News)
Propaganda, and Perspective, on "American Empire" Nov 15, 2007
In his Nobel Prize Lecture of 2005, Sir Harold Pinter smears the United States for causing hundreds of thousands of deaths with its support for right wing military dictatorship in Indonesia, Greece, Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, Haiti, Turkey, the Philippines, Guatemala, El Salvador, and, of course, Chile. At no point, however, does Pinter remind his listeners that every one of the dictatorships he mentioned played a role in the larger struggle against the Soviet Union and its... (Townhall.com)
