The Lover (play)
| The Lover | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Opening title ITV, 1963 | |
| Written by | Harold Pinter |
| Date premiered | 28 March 1963 |
| Place premiered | ITV |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | One-act play |
The Lover is a 1962 one-act play by Harold Pinter, originally written for television, but subsequently performed on stage.[1] The play contrasts bourgeois domesticity with sexual yearning.[2]
As with the drama of Anton Chekhov, some of Pinter's plays support "serious" and "comic" interpretations; The Lover has been staged successfully both as an ironic comedy on the one hand and as a nervy drama on the other.[3][4] As is often the case with Pinter, the play probably contains both.[5]
Plot
[edit]Pinter leads the audience to believe that there are three characters in the play: the wife, the husband and the lover. But the lover who comes to call in the afternoons is revealed to be the husband adopting a role. He plays the lover for her: she plays the whore for him. As the play goes on the man (first as the lover and then as the husband) expresses a wish to stop the pretend adultery, to the dismay of the woman. Finally, the husband suddenly switches back to the role of the lover.
Original production
[edit]The play originally premiered in a 60 minute TV production directed by Joan Kemp-Welch for Associated-Rediffusion, transmitted by ITV on 28 March 1963.[6]
- Husband/Lover - Alan Badel
- Wife/Mistress - Vivien Merchant
- Milkman - Michael Forrest
Original London stage production
[edit]It opened at the Arts Theatre on 18 September 1963 in a production by the author, as part of a double bill with his play The Dwarfs; and closed on 5 October.[7]
- Richard - Scott Forbes
- Sarah - Vivien Merchant
- John - Michael Forrest
- Critical reception
The Financial Times wrote "The little play works simply beautifully, like a perfectly adjusted piece of miniature machinery, except that machinery is dead and this play is scintillating alive."[8]
References
[edit]- ^ Billington, Michael (30 January 2008). "Theatre review: The Lover/The Collection / Comedy Theatre, London". The Guardian – via www.theguardian.com.
- ^ "THE LOVER by Harold Pinter". www.englishtheatre.de.
- ^ Raby, Peter (20 September 2001). The Cambridge Companion to Harold Pinter. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521658423 – via Google Books.
- ^ Richards, Lee-Ann. "A moment's pause for Pinter's black comedy double bill". Romford Recorder.
- ^ Burkman, Katherine H. (21 October 1971). The Dramatic World of Harold Pinter: Its Basis in Ritual. Ohio State University Press. ISBN 9780814201466 – via Google Books.
- ^ "BFI Screenonline: Lover, The (1963)". www.screenonline.org.uk.
- ^ "The Lover and The Collection by Harold Pinter on stage in London - theatre tickets and show information". www.thisistheatre.com.
- ^ "www.haroldpinter.org - Plays". www.haroldpinter.org.
External links
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