Pinter Plays A Blinder. (Family Voices - Harold Pinter)

Member Name: Emmald

Product:	Family Voices - Harold Pinter
Date:	13/10/09 (68 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A melting pot of emotion.

Disadvantages: It sometimes verges on the surreal.

It is a near certainty that the majority of people will have heard of the accomplished English poet, author, actor, director and playwright Harold Pinter but may never have read or heard any of his works. Maybe you will have only fleetingly noticed his name pass your eye in a book or on the Internet and it has to be taken into account that stage plays are not for everyone, though they can be as dramatic and beguiling as any film or book if the cast is well chosen.

Harold Pinter was born in 1930 in the East End of London, he was the son of a Jewish tailor, as a child he adored his Mother but he struggled to bond with his overly strict Father.
As a child Pinter relished writing poetry and he entered into the spirit at his Grammar school willingly volunteering for parts in any school plays.
After leaving school Pinter went on to study at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, he managed to suffer the Academy for just two years before he left describing the whole episode as one he would rather forget.
1949 saw Pinter refuse to carry out his National Service for which he was taken to court and fined.
But during 1950 Pinter started to spread his wings, he worked with a group of Shakespearean actors, he accepted some BBC radio work, some of his poetry was published and he was performing in London's theatres.
Pinter had a long and very successful career that lasted over half a century and all of his hard work was rewarded in 2005 when he was presented with the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Harold Pinter wrote the play `Family voices` especially for the radio and it has been broadcast many times . The play is an emotional experiment and there are just three main voices that are coming from members of the same family.
The play was published in book form by Faber and Faber in 1981 and it lasts for about forty minutes.
The three voices that you hear are the son, his Mother and his Father who is dead, I put them in that order because the voices that you hear the most from are the Mother and the Son.
The son has left the family home and boards in a house that is filled with rather unusual characters that include Riley, a young man who secretly lusts after him, Withers an elderly gentleman who is for want of a better word `barking`, another character called Mrs Withers, a young woman who also a `Withers` and a girl who is named Jane. We can only speculate about the status of the residents who have odd and eccentric ways that are bizarre to say the very least.

It appears that the Mother regularly communicates with her son by letter. Although she sends these loving missives on a regular basis they remain unanswered. Even the letter that sends the news of his Father's death goes unheeded and this in turn convinces the Mother that her son is in the grips of a weird and wonderful household who have somewhat `brainwashed` him.
Her letters become bitter and tinged with disapproval and in the latter part of the play the `dead husband` speaks out from his grave.

So, we have three characters who at different times speak out to one another. Pinter is focussing on family life and I feel that he captures it well in this radio play. Many have ideas of how family life should or even could be but in reality it is often very far from idyllic and I think that this was the message that Pinter was tring to convey to his listeners.
It seems that the Son had been suffocated by his parents and longed to escape but his mother especially failed to see that. But her unconditional love is eventually put to the test and it does show signs of wavering.
Often we are able to speak far more freely to friends than we are to family members and as Mother tries to step up the pace her son remains tight lipped which infuriates her to even greater heights.
Pinter is strikingly near to the mark as the play gets into full swing, it highlights the awful truth, that we humans often find simple communication beyond us.

As usual Pinter knows how to create atmosphere and this is only achieved with considerable literary skill. Silences, or small lulls in conversation can often create stress and tension yet Pinter thrives on his pauses and cashes in on them. Each time there is a silence it is there for a clear purpose and it gives listeners time to work out the meaning of that brief pause.

Peter Hall directed the Radio Three version of Pinter's `Family Voices` . He chose Peggy Ashcroft ( mother ), Michael Kitchen ( son ) and Mark Dignam ( father ) to play the three voices.

The first words that are uttered are quite seaside postcard, " I am having a very nice time " but those words are not followed by the usual " Wish you were here ".
In the latter stages of the play the son considers returning home but maybe he would have quickly reconsidered had he heard his Mother shriek " You will be found but no mercy will be shown"

Pinter regales the tale as if he were concocting a recipe, he blends tragedy with the laughable, there is a touch of the surreal laced with totally the bizarre. Morbidity and fear sit alongside passion and only Pinter could join these all up and make a tale that is so high on emotion.

The play in book form ( paperback ) is available on the Amazon website and it can be bought for just a couple of pounds.
If you are intending buying the book I personally think that you also need to listen to the play, maybe it would be worth looking out for a podcast on the Internet or a replay on the radio.

Summary: An insight into family emotions.