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I remember when Harold Pinter died a couple of years ago. The specific date is not important, but I was at a Chinese restaurant in Philadelphia called Yang Ming where my parents and I celebrated New Years every year and my fiancé Tom had his bar mitzvah (apparently you can have a bar mitzvah at a Chinese restaurant). Anyway, Tom and I were sitting on the floor, waiting for a table when my theater professor texted me that Pinter, the playwright I had presented on to the class a couple weeks before, passed away. I distinctly remember Tom’s response to this earnest news. “Who the hell is Harold Pinter?”
During the show, I happened to be sitting a few seats away from a woman with strikingly similar sentiments about Centerstage’s production of The Homecoming, directed by Irene Lewis. As if the blackouts obscured sound as well as light, this particular patron of the arts exclaimed variants of I-don’t-get-it, what’s-going-on, and what-is-this each time there was a scene change. I wondered whether her remarks got louder each time because of her increasing frustration with the absurd plot, or whether she was cawing for another lost soul who shared in her confusion.
The basic plot was relatively straightforward. The Homecoming is set in a London house in the mid-1960s and involves Max (Jarlath Conroy), the patriarch, his brother Sam (Laurence O’Dwyer), and his three sons Teddy (Steven Epp), Lenny (Trent Dawson), and Joey (Sebastian Naskaris), as well as Teddy’s wife Ruth (Felicity Jones). Professions have important implications in this play. While Max is a retired butcher, Sam is a chauffeur, Lenny is ostensibly a pimp, and Joey works in demolition during the day while training to become a professional boxer at night. In contrast, Teddy is a philosophy professor in America, meaning he operates on a different intellectual plane from the rest of his family.
Teddy and Ruth drop by unannounced in the middle of the night, which is our first clue that something is not right in this family dynamic. Teddy and Ruth have difficulty communicating and their actions seem to be working at cross-purposes. First, Teddy wants Ruth to go to bed while he stays up for a while. Ruth wants to ‘get some fresh air’ but doesn’t want her husband coming with her. The sharply delivered lines and overlapping dialogue is Pinter’s way of showing us that there is something rocky in their marriage before the action of the play even begins. After Teddy goes to bed, Lenny appears and it is understood that he eavesdropped on the conversation. The two begin to flirt over a glass of water and Ruth ultimately seduces Lenny. This is the beginning of the web of lies that is weaved in this play, and perhaps points to the larger theme of lies, the breakdown of communication, and the decay of the family.
In the morning, when Max and the rest of the men discover Teddy and Ruth are in the house, not only is Max stunned to see his son, but he thinks Ruth is a ‘dirty tart’ and chastises Teddy for bringing her into the house. They are finally able to explain that Ruth is Teddy’s wife, but eventually information slips out about Ruth’s questionable past life, and Teddy decides the two must leave and go back to America. The rest of the play is riddled with sexual tension, as the brothers vie for Ruth’s affection. In the climactic scene before the couple is about the leave, Ruth and Lenny share a romantic goodbye dance and begin to kiss. Lenny enters and mistakes Ruth for a prostitute, throwing her onto the couch, and forcing himself on her while Max, Sam, Lenny, and Teddy (awestruck and helpless at this point) watch.
This was when the woman behind me couldn’t take it anymore and threatened to leave (her daughter or daughter in law hushed her back into her seat). Besides the drama from the peanut gallery, it struck me that the drama onstage read more like a TV sitcom than an Absurdist play. Yes, I know that The Homecoming is considered one of Pinter’s masterpieces, but I dare to speak out.
My discomfort doesn’t mean I only enjoy feel-good shows. On the contrary, theater excites me when it refuses to give clean answers, throws the questions back at the audience, and forces us think. Absurdist plays like Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe, which Centerstage did a compelling production of a couple of years ago, and Ionesco’s The Bald Soprano keep me engaged the entire time and certainly do make me think. The Homecoming left me (and the woman behind me) asking not what does it mean, but rather what happened?
The Homecoming
by Harold Pinter
directed by Irene Lewis
Jan 26 2011—Feb 20 2011
Tags: Absurdism, CenterStage, Harold Pinter, Irene Lewis, The Homecoming
Filed Under: Community Feature Sights
I saw the play toward the end of its run and thought that it was fantastic. I certainly thought that it provoked questions, and refused any clear interpretations, forcing me to think about the action for several days afterwards. The comparison to a tv sitcom is curious, im not sure what is meant by that, unless the sitcoms of the 1960’s (when the play was written) were signifigantly more intellectual and challenging than what we get today. Does modern tv discomfort you in the same way? I think maybe this unease shows that the production was a sucess. What happened was that Centerstage has proven yet again its commitment to diverse and inclusive programing.
February 24, 2011 12:30 pmThe reviewer seems to have little connection to the minimalist beauty of the Pinter script, with an odd and meaningless lead relating to herself and family.
March 9, 2011 3:36 pmAppreciate you sharing, great article post.Thanks Again. Great.
February 1, 2012 5:46 am