Review
Celebration and The Room
Atlantic theater
Dec 30, 2005
by VanLoan
vanloan@nyconstage.org
With Harold Pinter becoming this year's Nobel Laureate, it was very astute of the Atlantic theater to produce a double bill of his works. It was even shrewder to use his first and his most recent works as a representation of his career. Written in 1957, the one-act The Room allows us to see the budding talent/technique of the young playwright while Celebration (2001) allows us to luxuriate in Pinteresque glory.
The Room is set in a gloomy rooming house where a brooding, slightly neurotic woman is worrying about her safety. The dread of the unseen/unknown will come to be a standard Pinter devise. Various people come and go: her husband, the landlord and a sinister man and woman looking to rent the apartment (not currently for rent). These vaguely threatening intrusions gradually unhinge the woman until a blind man arrives claiming to know her. The conclusion to this encounter is both indistinct and puzzling. While not dramatically satisfying, The Room shows us the atmospherics that will dominate the playwright's future works. Mary Beth Peil as the besieged heroine is flawless in her insecurities while Neil Pepe's direction is a little too obvious.
Celebration fares better if for no other reason than the author has had decades to hone his craft. The plot is deceptively lean and ominous. A pair of married couples is having a birthday celebration. The casual somewhat caustic banter slowly turns sadistic. A loose-lipped disturbed waiter keeps intruding on the party. A couple from another table stops to chat and a brawl almost ensues. The unseen menacing forces at work in The Room have become overt in Celebration. Bullying and aggressiveness have become our second nature. Pepe's direction is much tighter and in control here. The cast is uniformly excellent with Brennan Brown standing out as the pompous Russell.
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