A (Not So) Happy Birthday

The set of "The Birthday Party" in PSU's Studio Theatre

A birthday party doesn’t normally involve bouts of paranoia, mental breakdowns, and acts of violence, but in “The Birthday Party” by Harold Pinter, it most certainly does. 

The PSU theater department presents Pinter’s play this weekend, running until Nov. 22, in the Studio Theatre at Plymouth’s Silver Center for the Arts. 

The play is set in a boardinghouse in England, run by married couple Meg (Cindy Wade) and Petey Boles (Nick Kalantzakos). Stanley Webber (Shane Smith), an unkempt, cruel man, is their only resident.

Stanley’s unexpected birthday party is disrupted by the arrival of Nat Goldberg (Leo Curran) and Dermot McCann (Roland DuBois).

The young, flirtatious Lulu (Valerie Umbro) is a visitor to the boardinghouse who is a victim of the madness that ensues.

“The Birthday Party” deals with the fragile mental state of several of the characters throughout the play. The audience attempts to make sense of the events, and often reaches conclusions.

“I think the most interesting part of the play is how it’s up to interpretation,” said actor Leo Curran. “Based on what just happens in the show, just ask five different people and they’ll all come up with wildly different stories as to what brought these people together.” 

Although Pinter incorporates elements of mystery, it’s really a comedy of menace. The play tells a dark tale with comedy interwoven within the dialogue.

Director Elizabeth Daily talked about the play’s language. “Pinter was so interested in how language sounded,” she said. “I think he was a brilliant writer in terms of dialogue, and you hear repeated lines and other characters repeat things much later in their monologue. I think it adds to the mystery. How would one character know some things about another character or been to places that a character had talked about already?”

Daily has been directing shows at Plymouth State since 1996. For this production, she is joined by Assistant Director Catherine Jacobs, senior.

“Even as director, you can make connections every single night, every time you see a run of this show. Every time you do a scene, you can play it in so many different ways,” she said.

“With McCann he can go full aggressive, or he can go menacingly aggressive. Same thing with Goldberg, one second he’ll be giving you this grand story, the next second he’ll be staring you down, pushing you without physically pushing, you so that he can emotionally, mentally push you,” said Jacobs.

“The Birthday Party” shows in the Studio Theatre in PSU’s Silver Center for the Arts on Nov. 19 and 20 at 7 p.m., Nov. 21 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Nov. 22  at 2 p.m. Call (603)-535-2787 or visit www.plymouth.edu/silver-center for tickets.

CLOCK PHOTO/JACK ROBERTS