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THE BIRTHDAY PARTY

Directed by: Robert G Newton

Genre:  Drama

Group:  BHTC

Staged: The Park Centre, Burgess Hill

Synopsis: 

 

In a small house at a coastal resort lives a man, his mentally wayward wife and their boarder who has been with them for a year.

 

He is a strange chap, unkempt and in flight from we know not what. Enter an even stranger sleek Jewish man and his muscle bound Irish henchman. The mentally immature wife accommodates them with a room and then decides that it is time for the boarder to have a birthday.

 

At the party she arranges, the new guests play cruel games with the boarder and they break his glasses, make a buffoon of him, and push him over the psychotic precipice. 

BHTC NOTES: Club members Elizabeth Batton and Sheila Wells (playing the part of Meg Boles) remember this as an excellent production and in particular, Anthony White's portrayal of Stanley Webber (the lodger).

Production Date:  October 1971

 

PLAYWRIGHTS:

 

Harold Pinter 'The Birthday Party' (1957), was initially a flop, despite a positive review in the Sunday Times. But after the success of 'The Caretaker' in 1960 which established him, 'The Birthday Party' was revived and this time was well received.

Playwrights:  Harold Pinter

BHTC Production Number: 69

Neil Batsford

Sheila Wells

Anthony White

Sheila Tapner

Keith Jefferies

Leon Figg

Cast

Peter Boles

Meg Boles

Stanley Webber

Lulu

Goldberg

McCann

Anthony White

Mike Cannon

Peter Coveney

Elisabet Hawker

Barbara Chamberlain

Anthony Hole

Anthony White

Inez Wedderburn

 

Crew

Stage Director

Stage Manager

Lighting & Effects

Properties & Wardrobe

Prompt

Front of House Manager

Set Designer

Production Secretary

Programme

Press Cuttings

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