By contrast, the opener, A Slight Ache, should leave aficionados and uninitiated alike in seventh heaven. Too bad this hasn't become a DVD. We rely on advertising to help fund our award-winning journalism. Harold Pinter is a playwright whose work isn’t seen enough, so this opportunity to see one of his best short plays, performed by two excellent actors, shouldn’t be passed up. We urge you to turn off your ad blocker for The Telegraph website so that you can continue to access our quality content in the future. John Travolta channeling his future comeback role in a Harold Pinter Play for TV, Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2008. With John Travolta, Tom Conti, Linda Hunt, Annie Lennox. The first revolves around paranoiac woman trapped in her apartment. Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Tickets: 613-236-1425, thirdwall.com. © 2020 Ottawa Citizen, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. All rights reserved. Whelan is equally remarkable. Directed by Robert Altman. There was an error, please provide a valid email address. Perfect for acing essays, tests, and quizzes, as well as for writing lesson plans. The Dumb Waiter is a play by Harold Pinter that was first performed in 1957. If any of his playlets bring home Pinter’s line about his work being about “the weasel under the cocktail cabinet”, here it is. The Dumb Waiter is a classic study of two gunmen nervously awaiting instructions in the bleak basement of a Birmingham restaurant. This is a clever play and a wonderful metaphor, with the unknown voice above sending down impossible orders to the two men. Studio Theatre – Gasworks Arts Park, 21 Graham Street, Albert Park Ben, for example, needs to be almost consumed by an unexplained rage if her occasional jettisoning of self-control is to resonate. Season continues to 15 February 2020 But it doesn’t scorch. What is initially a string of banal chit-chats turns serious when the dumb waiter in the room calls and they begin to converse with whoever is on the end of the chain. short film based on the story by British playwright Harold Pinter (betrayal). Faith Healer review, Old Vic: Michael Sheen mesmerises, but live-streaming dims the play's magic, Pippin, Garden Theatre, review: a fresh burst of vitality that deserves further life indoors, Cancel culture will fizzle out - as these lessons from history prove. If ever a performance space was made for Pinter's menacing and hilarious early one-act play, the subterranean Bike Shed is it. The Dumb Waiter I have been hoping for years to find this short film in DVD format and I am very disappointed it is still VHS. You can still see all customer reviews for the product. He who asks questions is not answered and we are left wondering. Review: The Dumb Waiter “What’s going on here?” asks Gus at one point in The Dumb Waiter. The slight let-down of the evening, in part because it’s so pumped-up, is The Dumb Waiter for which two big-guns, Danny Dyer and Martin Freeman, have been wheeled out. Heffernan’s Edward moves from a breezily comic attempt to co-opt the unseen match-seller into his own world (“I was in commerce too”) into revelations of panic and insecurity. Lloyd, however, follows the conventions of radio drama and leaves him to our imaginations. © 2020 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. In Pinter’s hands they are as richly fulfilling as many an inordinate three-hour epic. Continues March 23 and again March 28-30. The Dumb Waiter is a two-character play set in the basement of an old rooming house, connected to the rooms above by a dumbwaiter and an intercom. At the Harold Pinter theatre, London, until 23 February, Available for everyone, funded by readers. They’ve been here before, so are prepared somewhat for a wait: Ben rests with his newspaper, while Gus has a wee stash of food in case of emergency, but unfortunately did not bring his cigarettes. And while the production does often nail the play’s difficult shifts in rhythm and mood, this Ben and Gus don’t have the intense connection that the show demands. Past pairings have included Lee Evans and Jason Isaacs, and Kenneth Cranham and Colin Blakely. Watt’s Ben fumes, but that’s not the same as rage. Until Feb 23. Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2012. Gus has an air of naïvety, but he’s certainly no idiot, which Johnston balanced splendidly throughout. There's a problem loading this menu right now. The other is about two small-time crooks waiting.