The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter

First produced: 1958; first published, 1959

Type of work: Drama

Type of plot: Absurdist

Time of plot: Mid-twentieth century

Locale: England

Principal characters

• Petey Boles, a man in his sixties
• Meg Boles, his wife, in her sixties
• Stanley Webber, their boarder, in his late thirties
• Lulu, a neighbor, in her twenties
• Goldberg, a man in his fifties
• McCann, a man of thirty

The Story:

Petey Boles and his wife, Meg, are the proprietors of a dilapidated boardinghouse in a seaside town in England. One morning, as they are discussing the local news over breakfast, Petey mentions that two men approached him on the beach the previous night and asked him for a room. He says the men had agreed to drop by later that day to see if the room is available. Meg tells Petey that she will have the room ready if the men arrive.

When their only lodger, Stanley Webber, joins Petey and Meg for breakfast, he complains that he “didn’t sleep at all.” As soon as Petey leaves for work as a deck chair attendant on the promenade, Meg begins her morning chores, telling Stanley about the two men who spoke to Petey. This news upset Stanley at first, but, after reflection, he dismisses the incident as a “false alarm.”

When Lulu, a young neighbor, drops by to deliver a package, she questions Stanley about his morning activities and complains that his appearance makes her feel depressed. In response, Stanley first lies about what he did that morning, then asks her to “go away” with him, though they both agree that there is nowhere for them to go. Lulu calls Stanley “a bit of a washout” and leaves.

When two men named Goldberg and McCann arrive, Stanley avoids them by slipping out the back door. The men reminisce about “the golden days” and the “old school” and suggest that an informant provided important information regarding their “present job” which, according to Goldberg, is “quite distinct” from their “previous work.” Meg tells them that if they take the room they can join the household in celebrating Stanley’s birthday that night. She explains that he was formerly a pianist and that she hopes he will play at the party. She promises to invite Lulu and to wear her party dress, hoping that the party will improve Stanley’s attitude; he was “down in the dumps lately.” Goldberg and McCann decide to take the room and to attend the party.

As soon as they leave, Stanley returns and asks Meg about the men. When Meg tells him that they are the “ones that were coming,” Stanley is visibly dejected. To cheer him up, Meg opens the package Lulu delivered. It contains a drum that Meg then gives to Stanley for his birthday present. Stanley slings the drum around his neck and marches around the room, beating the drum frantically.

That night, Stanley comes downstairs to find McCann “sitting at the table tearing a newspaper into five equal strips.” Stanley tries to leave, but McCann stops him. When Stanley picks up the pieces of paper, McCann becomes violent and warns Stanley to leave the paper alone. Then Stanley tries to convince McCann that it is not his birthday, and the argument escalates into violence. When Goldberg joins McCann again, Stanley, desperate, claims that the room Meg promised the two men is not available, that it is taken, and that they will have to find lodging elsewhere. He tells them to “get out,” but instead they begin to interrogate Stanley, alternating comically nonsensical statements with serious accusations, until their tirade becomes an existential inquisition questioning Stanley’s identity. Finally, both men conclude that Stanley is dead.

The interrogation is interrupted by Meg, who brings Stanley his drum. As Meg begins toasting Stanley, Lulu joins the party, flirting with Goldberg, sitting on his lap, and embracing him. Meg then makes a play for McCann, and soon all of them are playing blindman’s buff. Blindfolded, McCann stumbles around the room until he finds Stanley and removes his glasses. In turn, Stanley begins to strangle Meg, the lights go out, and, in the confusion, Stanley tries to rape Lulu. When McCann finally finds a flashlight, Stanley is backed up against the wall, giggling hysterically.

The next morning Petey, who missed the party, sits at the table as usual, reading his paper. Meg complains that the drum she bought for Stanley is broken, but she does not remember it being broken at the party. She tells Petey that the men are upstairs in Stanley’s room “talking” and that the “big car” she sees in front of the house is probably Goldberg’s.

When Goldberg comes downstairs, he informs Petey and Meg that he and McCann are taking Stanley with them because Stanley suffered a “nervous breakdown.” McCann comes downstairs and explains that Stanley stopped talking and broke his glasses trying “to fit the eyeholes into his eyes.”

McCann begins tearing strips of newspaper again, which so irritates Goldberg that he starts shouting for him to stop, and when McCann calls him “Simey” he becomes even more agitated, calming down only when McCann blows into his mouth. Lulu drops by and accuses Goldberg of seducing her after the party, but Goldberg counters that she wanted him to do it. Insulted, Lulu claims that she has a “pretty shrewd idea” about what is going on and leaves.

When Stanley is finally brought downstairs, he is dressed in a well-cut suit and a bowler hat. Goldberg and McCann begin another sequence of absurd statements regarding Stanley’s situation, and by the time they finish, Stanley can respond only in unintelligible noises. Petey tries to stop them from taking Stanley, but Goldberg tells him they are delivering Stanley to “Monty” for “special treatment” and leave in a car with McCann and Stanley. While Petey resumes his breakfast, Meg insists that at the party that night she was “the belle of the ball” but is so confused that she still believes Stanley is upstairs in his room asleep.

Bibliography

Baker, William. Harold Pinter. London: Continuum, 2008. Brief critical biography examining the themes, patterns, relationships, and ideas that are common to Pinter’s life and writings.

Billington, Michael. Harold Pinter. London: Faber & Faber, 2007. Critical biography focusing on literary analysis of Pinter’s works. Discusses the major plays at length, providing information about their literary and biographical sources.

Bloom, Harold, ed. Modern Critical Views: Harold Pinter. New York: Chelsea House, 1987. An eclectic collection of essays by various critics. Offers comprehensive analysis of general themes as well as selected specific texts.

Burkman, Katherine H. The Dramatic World of Harold Pinter: Its Basis in Ritual. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 1971. An analysis of Pinter’s work viewed from the perspectives of Freudian, Marxist, and myth analysis. Heavy on theory with solid literary analysis of individual plays.

Esslin, Martin. Pinter: The Playwright. 6th exp. and rev. ed. London: Methuen, 2000. Comprehensive analytical survey of Pinter’s writing career, offering critical commentary on all of his plays.

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Theatre of the Absurd. New York: Viking Penguin, 1987. Overview of the avant-garde and how the term relates to selected dramatic works. Includes an excellent discussion of Pinter’s early work.

Gale, Stephen H., ed. Harold Pinter: Critical Approaches. Rutherford, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1986. A collection of essays by various critics on a wide range of Pinter’s work. Places the material in the context of contemporary critical theories.

Merritt, Susan H. Pinter in Play: Critical Strategies and the Plays of Harold Pinter. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1990. Excellent discussion of current and past debates on critical theory as it relates to Pinter’s work. Provides scrupulous textual examination.

Raby, Peter, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Harold Pinter. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Collection of essays, including discussions of Pinter, politics, and postmodernism; Pinter and the critics; Pinter and the twentieth century theater; and a piece by director Peter Hall about directing Pinter’s plays. The numerous references to The Birthday Party are listed in a separate index of Pinter’s works.