Teasing and provoking, eliciting laughter and gasps, the menace is still there. Signal Ensemble Theatre's strong production shows that, fifty years after its first production, Harold Pinter's "The Birthday Party" has not lost its power to unsettle nor its bizarre humor.
Pinter's plays are famed for their cryptic stories, mysterious pauses and suppressed violence. The Birthday Party is no exception to this rule. The plot centers on Stanley (Joseph Stearns), who may have once been a concert pianist, and who now boards with the flirtatious Meg (Mary O'Dowd) and her passive husband, Petey (Vincent J. Lonergan). Two men, Goldberg (Will Schutz) and McCann (Philip Winston), appear at the house. They seem to want something from Stanley, and he appears frightened of them.
The plot raises far more questions than it answers. Why does Meg insist that it is Stanley's birthday, while Stanley denies it? What do the men want from Stanley? What is the "organization" they mention, and how did Stanley betray it? Why is Meg frightened of the idea of a wheelbarrow?
Those looking for easy answers will be frustrated, but Pinter's brilliance is in the way he keeps the audience squirming on the hook, desperate to know more, but unable to quite understand the horror that is unfolding.
Director Aaron Snook's production suffers from a few flaws, such as accents that sound studied rather than natural. But it is successful in evoking the discomfort at the heart of the play. The cast is fine all around, with Winston's near-feral McCann and Schutz's eerily smiling Goldberg standouts. Julie E. Ballard's lighting is particularly effective at showing the absurdist horror that underlies seemingly innocent situations.
The Birthday Party is far from a pleasant or comforting evening, but this production makes it clear that few can beat Pinter for sending an existential chill up the spine.
Reviewed by Centerstage!
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