The Birthday party: task

The Birthday Party: title of the play indicate that someone’s birthday party may be celebrated in the play but after studying the play we come to know that there isn’t any party. Play is known as ‘comedy of menace’ and absurd.

                                                    What is comedy of menace? What is absurdity? What are the symbols, what each symbol indicate? What are the changes between movie and play?

Here I am giving answers about above questions which are asking in worksheet of The Birthday Party, so I hope it may helpful to others.

Here I am sharing my viewpoints about the play.

 Pre viewing task: Comedy of menace: The phrase “comedy of menace” as a standalone description inspires both positive and negative feelings. Comedy is used during a dangerous situation to cause audiences to draw judgments about a particular character or communication. The words used are the focus of often powerful stories that create conflicting emotions from its audience. The title “Comedy of Menace” immediately brings contradictions to mind, because comedy is generally something that makes people laugh, and the word "menace" implies something threatening. Quite literally, then, this phrase involves laughing at an ominous situation.

This phrase is part of the title of a British play called The Lunatic View: a Comedy of Menace, by David Campton. Irving Wardle, a critic in the 1950s, emphasized the phrase when writing a review of the plays of Harold Pinter. Wardle used "comedy of menace" in a review of several of Pinter's works, although at the time he had seen only one, The Birthday Party.

Some plays are able to successfully mingle drama with comedy. One specific example from The Birthday Party is a character joking around about being in a menacing situation.

Phrase “comedy of menace” often applied to his early plays like; “The Room”, “The Birthday Party” and “A Slight Ache”. Menacing situation is shown in all above plays.

A particular atmosphere: It also created by Pinter’s ability to drop suddenly from a high comic level into deep seriousness. By this technique the audience is made aware that the comedy is only at surface layer. The sudden outbreaks of violence (verbal/physical?) in the play confirm this and leave the audience unsure of what will come next.

While we are talking about atmosphere there is some kind of fear in the play but that – fear for what? – by whom? But this type of question is remaining unanswered. Just as Stanley or Meg is the main vehicle for comedy in the play; so one more question arises that is he the main vehicle for the presentation of fear? Or is any other character frightened?

Answer of this question is yes because tone of the play is tragic or fearful but fear of what? It isn’t clear. All the characters are suffering from some unknown fear. May be possible that characters are laugh to forget their fear; they live in a past or avoid seeing in mirror because of fear.

The room or house represents security from the outside world but sadly it is impossible to sustain. So we can say that atmosphere is freighting.

Painteresque: Swedish Academy defines characteristic of painteresque where people are at the mercy of each other and pretence crumbles. With a minimum plot, dramas emerge from the power struggle and hide and seek of interlocution…...

‘The Birthday Party’ as a Political Play with reference to Harold Pinter’s Noble Speech: ‘Art, Truth & Politics: in that Pinter clarify that; “There are no hard distinctions between what is real and what is unreal nor between what is true and what is false. A thing is not necessarily either true or false it can be both true or false” and je further says that I always start a play by calling the characters A, B, and C...It’s strange moment the moment of creating characters who up to that moment have had no existence.

 And now he talks about art and politics: he says that political language as used by politicians which is not in truth but in power -the real truth is that there never is any such thing as one truth to be found in dramatic art. There are many. These truths challenge each other, recoil from each other, reflect each other, ignore each other, these each other are blind to each other…

In his speech he very beautifully and logically argues about his play with real situation, truth in drama is forever elusive. He further talks about U.S. and says that ‘I spoke earlier about tapestry of lies and describes Nicaragua as a ‘totalitarian dungeon’

While viewing task:

 Pinter’s Birthday Party film and the play in article: in that Harriet and Irving Deer says quality of Pinter’s style in both play and film. They says that he is an accomplished writer in both drama and film, Pinter is faithful to the texture of the play, movie starts with early in the morning, shots of car driving camera is moving first car and then point of view of driver. Both film and play seems to be trivia. Sense of emptiness and menace comes primarily in the film, so it is Pinter’s purpose in both to magnify trivia he used meaningful techniques in film.

Magnified ripping sound as McCann tears his newspaper or party in which we see the room looks like cage it is more clearly visible while game blind-man’s bluff. It is Pinter’s technique he shifts from an emphasis on people in the play to an emphasis on things in the film. He beautifully writes as well as shut.

How many times the ‘knocking at the door’ happens in the play? So many times knocking the door happens and yes it is creating menacing effect while viewing the movie.

Silence and Pauses are very important and Pinter successfully does it in movie during the conversation between Meg and Stanley or conversation between McCann, Goldberg and Stanley this time he uses pauses and silence.

Newspaper: play and movie both open with scene of Petey reading newspaper and Meg working in the kitchen Meg asking him that what is in the news. Here asking someone and telling someone is itself shows power-position.

Mirror: is also one of the symbol in Pinter’s plays, mirror image is always a kind of unrealistic or lie image which shows what we are.

Breakfast: Meg giving Petey corn flex it shows she makes fuss over everything the paper, the fried bread, or her housekeeping anything.  The whole breakfast scene is reminiscent of the king of domestic trivia.

Toy drum: in the act one ends that time Meg gave toy drum to the Stanley, it remains to the end. It is well-intentioned but stupid present.

Window-hatch: from that Stanley shows who is coming because he frighten from some unknown fear and from window we can’t see full sight means we only shown half thing or unclear thing. At the end of the movie Petey also shoes in the window.

One more symbol I want to include that is;

Door: it is very important symbol because first it gives threatening sound and also symbol of some fearful feeling, knocking the door create menacing image.

Each scene has symbolic meaning. Interrogation scene- in that McCann, Goldberg is force to sit down to Stanley in that repetition of the dialogue or situation like Stanley is sitting down and they both standing up shows power-position.

Birthday party scene- in that Stanley constantly saying it isn’t my birthday. In that all are playing game blind-man’s bluff it shows different point of views of each character. Room is look like prison in that Stanley searching something.

Resistance scene: in that Stanley who is now clean shaved, once again Goldberg and McCann subject him to an unendurable verbal barrage, but it is superfluous Stanley will to resist has vanished and he can only make meaningless sound.

Post viewing task:

At some extant movie is giving the effect of menace but reading and seeing both are very much different reading is  always more effective than reading while reading interrogation scene McCann and Goldberg are force to Stanley for sit down and they asking Stanley some unclear thing that we don’t know context this are menacing situation while viewing this effect we can’t feel.

With which of the following observations you agree:  I am agree with this; “It's impossible to imagine a better film of Pinter's play than this sensitive, disturbing version directed by William Friedkin”

If you were director or screenplay writer, what sort of difference would you make it the making of movie? – movie is very much faithful to the original play in my opinion everything is okay no need to change or add in the movie and direction or screen play writing it isn’t my cup of tea, but I want to change Petey’s character, he played very minor role so I want to give more space to his character.

All actors’ plays beautifully and faithfully played their role but Stanley’s acting much affect me.

So these are my opinions about the play.  At last thanks to Dilip Barad sir for gave me advice to post it on my blog.