We’re kicking off our New Year events programme with a reading of The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter, which we hope will be our first production of 2024 (subject of course to our obtaining the rights).

Let Gabe Kellett, the director, tell you why the play has fired his imagination:

An enigmatic black comedy, The Birthday Party is set in a seaside boarding house where the sole lodger, oddball loner Stanley Webber, is tended to by married couple Meg and Petey. The only relief comes from occasional visits from their neighbour, lovely Lulu. One morning this not exactly cosy setup is disrupted by the appearance of two new guests, Goldberg and McCann, who appear to be previously acquainted with Stanley, and what a coincidence, it’s apparently his birthday too! This calls for a celebration…of sorts.

A big flop when first performed, hated by almost every critic going, it nearly ended the fledgling playwright’s career, yet has since risen in estimation to become regarded as an early masterpiece by one of the 20th century’s greatest writers.

Join us in our plunge into a dark hinterland of ambiguous power relations and mysterious menace in a funny way!