519 Reviews as of : 03/06/2010

Two of Harold Pinter's one-acts, one from the beginning of his career, The Room, and one of his later works, Celebration (1999), are receiving a production at the Atlantic Theatre Company under the direction of Artistic Director, Neil Patel. They are both very slight works that nonetheless demonstrate how far this playwright has traveled while maintaining his humor and his motif of threat and danger.

The Room unfortunately is not getting a very good outing. Mary Beth Peil's Rose strains mightily with her accent (as pertinent to Pinter as his pauses) and therefore forces her performance - tensions that should be felt not seen. Peter Maloney also forces his performance killing his non-sequiturs that actually may have meaning. Thomas Jay Ryan is simply the wrong age, while Earle Hyman seems as lost in his role as he does in the character's blindness. Only David Pittu and Kate Blumberg as the unexpected visitors do their parts justice. One begins to wonder if it's the play or the production or both that make it feel painfully dated.

Celebration, on the other hand, is as well done as the former is not. At a high-end restaurant, we listen in on two tables of patrons - a foursome of two dubious "business" brothers and their wives, who happen to be sisters, at one table, and an Oxford educated banker and his materialistic wife at the other. Along the way we meet the restaurant proprietor, his hostess, and the head-waiter. That no one is what they appear to be is, I assume, Mr. Pinter's point. In this one-act's performance, however, the threat in the air is palpable as information gets exposed. The cast is excellent with Patrick Breen as the loud-mouthed brother, Christa Scott-Reed as the warmly welcoming though troubled hostess, and David Pittu as the name-dropping waiter, stand-outs.

The sets of Walt Spangler, lights of David Weiner, and costumes of Ilona Somogyi are fine while Mr. Patel's direction is on shaky ground.

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