PINTER'S THE BIRTHDAY PARTY Part 2 of 4

BBC production of one of Harold Pinter's most popular dramas.
Stanley's birthday party turns into a nightmare when strangers McCann and Goldberg arrive.
I am posting this production for educational purposes and not for profit.

[@christopherdandeker6122]

Pinter shows here what a classy actor he was

[@thomassimmons1950]

The whole cast is super; and Joan Plowright is funny and adorable. Pinter makes language live.

[@ajs41]

She's good but I think Dandy Nichols was better at the part.

[@mrhat50]

"Right! you had your rest now get out!!!!!!" 😆

[@rockystandingart5046]

🤣

[@ahmedsredy2429]

Pinter's language is so simple to understand for any foreigner learning English ,but the tricky part is the emotions in which this language is packed and what makes HP's plays appealing to any public despite the strangeness of the characters who are usually so few in all his plays so that anyone can feel the intimacy of the personalities as they dissect each others'reactions and feelings.l personally respect Harold Pinter as a playwright but especially as as an activist who was against Apartheid and Zionism in spite of him being Jewish and l believe he deserved more than a Nobel prize.

[@clumsydad7158]

There's a lot under the surface, as in any good play, and language is used for senseless repetition, vacuousness, absurdity, attacking, or raw confusion.

[@ajs41]

@@clumsydad7158 For me, the most menacing thing about this play is the way that Meg completely fails to see or realise what's going on right under her nose, despite being basically a good person herself. I find that really chilling, because it's an example of how all sorts of bad things can take place in the presence of good people without them necessarily noticing. But Meg isn't completely innocent, because one of the reasons she doesn't notice what's going on is because of her own self-centredness and parochialism.

[@manfromnocky]

Well said about Pinter Sir.

[@avivastudios2311]

Why do you respect anti-zionism?

[@perpieta]

Fricking amazing. Thank you for uploading!!!!

[@TheJonnyzeus]

I think you can safely assume that Pinter, as a Hackney born Jew, could do the accent! As a Londoner it sounds spot on.

[@juliangarner56]

Agreed!

[@mrminer071166]

Pinter's got hair like a yarmulke-salesman. That shabby-genteel tone: "But today it's different." And slight nasality. So charming, Harold.

[@tweegeTX3]

No offence but you’ve basically said someone sounds like someone that they are

[@TheJonnyzeus]

@@tweegeTX3 No offence taken. My own comment was in response to someone who challenged the accuracy of Pinter's portrayal.

[@Johnconno]

Pinter got as far away from Hackney as soon as he could, and never went back. Who could blame him, Eh? Not me!

[@alanballsshinpad3069]

Playwrighting's gain was acting's loss what an electric actor he was....Pinter's language is mesmerising and its hard to explain quite why. incredible

[@samuelmarlow1969]

I agree. Pinter really weaves the menace and sense of humour throughout the play and keep you wondering what’s going to happen next. The interrogation. scene is particularly brilliant and the tactics of Goldberg and Mecann keep you on your toes! Pinters best play I think.

[@clumsydad7158]

@@samuelmarlow1969 yes, i need to read the dialogue from the two rapid attacking scenes - too much going on there to fully ingest and assess

[@DuckboyJiden]

You can really sense Kafka's The Trial in this. Absolutely genius play.

[@djbrucelee90]

Thanks very much for posting this video, I've found the reproduction of 'the birthday party' to be haunting, yet rather funny.

[@svprememe]

Goldberg's accent is meant to be indeterminable, that's the whole point of his character

[@justininfrance]

duncanidaho It's very specific surely, north London jewish? And as a north London jewish man, Pinter got it bang on.

[@mrminer071166]

@@justininfrance Do you find the Irishman indeterminable, or interminable?

[@LANCSKID]

Gefilte fish … not a South African delicacy …

[@sanjaysinghchampawat117]

Act 2 begins from 8:25 👍

[@xodixzote9260]

Its better than I had expected.

[@oliverbruce5324]

This is undoubtedly the best production of anything ever!

[@LANCSKID]

“… and that’s a Black and Tan fact.”

[@clumsydad7158]

@@LANCSKID that line alone is loaded with an essay's worth of connotations

[@LANCSKID]

@@clumsydad7158 What about the Blessed Oliver Plunkett?

[@Weepingleader]

at 28:25, the "You betrayed our land." sound like Liam Neeson lol

[@estebank4592]

Amazing

[@christophersloman1524]

We had this in 1987. And now we have The Night Manager

[@mrminer071166]

Definite feel of Doug and Dimmesdale Piranha in full menaces operation.

[@lawsonj39]

"I'd give a hand to a couple of stray dogs."

[@samuelmarlow1969]

Yes, Pinters character comes out with some outrageous boasts, so funny.

[@clumsydad7158]

That one was noticeable ... in the good old days, when all was well and perfect with the world! That kind of nonsensical nostalgia crap never goes out of style, we're living with the doomed implications and lack of vision of it once again! ... sad lies

[@mrminer071166]

Would have liked to see more glances between Goldberg and McCann when verifiying that there is one tenant, male, named Stanley Webber.

[@lastunctives2095]

I often talk in Pinteresque

[@mrminer071166]

Carry a fruit-knife about with you? For . . . safety?

[@LANCSKID]

I’m more ‘Kafkaesque’ and I’ve had good coffee and Gitanes down at the Imperial Cafe in Prague. Will Self invited me over for a good tongue twisting chortle … highly amusing, running counterpoint to my melancholy.

[@clumsydad7158]

then turn of the century it was 'mamet speak'

[@HeeeeeearMeNow]

Masters of menace

[@timcharles5476]

Do you know the year of this production? I'm guessing mid/late 80s.

[@Twisted_Owl]

i performed this for my gcse's and I thought I would see how to pros perform it

[@beaubeale4303]

jack as you probably won’t get this but I’m doing the same performance for my drama gcse 6 years later😁

[@harshlight7]

Goldberg has a South African accent. Quite subtle, but when he gets going it's undeniable. Pinter was showing his cards.

[@manfromnocky]

No, it's North London Jewish accent. But there are similarities.

[@seanlewis5663]

Anyone know the year this was performed?

[@WestVillageCrank]

1987 www.imdb.com/title/tt0090732/

[@seanlewis5663]

WestVillageCrank thanks

[@WestVillageCrank]

My pleasure.

[@johncooke1095]

1968.

[@MrJupiterLo]

he really doesn't

[@BelatedCommiseration]

I was wondering about that accent myself...it could be South African...but then there is a type of Golders Green Jewish dialect which I have always thought sounds very similar to a South African one...and Pinter might be doing that...

[@ajs41]

No I think he's definitely doing a South African accent to lend an extra menace to the character.

[@plasticweapon]

@@ajs41 except goldberg's whole schtick is being jewish (he won't stop referencing it). south african is "extra menacing..."?

[@ICT17]

It's a London Jewish accent. Sydney Tafler in William Friedkin's film of the play has exactly the same accent and, like Pinter, was London Jewish, in fact they were both from Hackney.

[@mrminer071166]

THEY MIGHT BE FORCED TO DEFECATE HIM.

[@clumsydad7158]

did they say that? ... need to look at that whole duo diatribe !!

[@mrminer071166]

@@clumsydad7158 Cyril Cusack gives a distinctive reading of that line in the LP of Joyce's Finnegan's Wake.

[@billfarnsworth7536]

haysoos

[@reclaimerReclaimer]

Oops, part 2 is widescreen... ;)

[@danielspain7231]

Bang goes the format. Why

[@Johnconno]

Good looking woman...

[@moist5912]

Everyone ignore, personal use 19:19

[@tsubarashiii6251]

10:07

[@edmund184]

I'm from Maidenhead. It might have been a charming town then but it sure ain't now. You're lucky if you can find an Englishman.

[@lawsonj39]

I've been in many charming towns that didn't have a single Englishman.

[@douglasmilton2805]

@John Lawson That was wicked 😆

[@mandobrownie]

I reckon any man who lives in some enduring sense in England is an Englishman, no?

[@kathyflorcruz552]

​@@mandobrownieAbsolutely NOT the unassimilated.

[@arungraves-kochhar7154]

kacper smells

[@paulrosa6173]

Has something changed in human nature in the past 30 years? I can't get over the habitual bossiness of many of Pinter's characters. It's not just in this play either. Is it due to the fact that Pinter tends to write about urban people? Or is it fair to say that Pinter doesn't write about real human beings?

[@bigbangzebraman351]

... You'd have to be insane to call these beings human.

[@clumsydad7158]

Technology changes but people don't. In earnest, we expect very little from ourselves yet as social creatures. So many bad habits and general ignorance in the way we relate to each other, but it's integrated with our instinctual need to frequently dominate and manipulate towards our own myopic ends.

[@paulrosa6173]

@@clumsydad7158 - I can't believe it was four years already since I saw this. Are you sure technology doesn't change us somewhat too?

[@emilycarter3246]

Habitual bossiness? A quality of Empire in decline.

[@paulrosa6173]

@@emilycarter3246 - You hit it on the head! That comment was four ago already? Ouch.

[@monkey97x]

lol why does Goldberg have a South African accent???

[@ajs41]

It's meant to be menacing. White South Africans were regarded as menacing at the time.

[@juliangarner56]

It’s not a South African accent. It’s East End Jewish, Yiddish inflected. But Goldberg is trying to pass as posh, so the accent slips. I suggest it is mostly this sense of concealment makes it menacing.

[@LANCSKID]

Pinter admitted to the ‘Once, there was an Englishman, Irishman and a Jew. And they …’

[@ICT17]

Watch William Friedkin's film of the play, Sydney Tafler as Goldberg has the same accent, it's a very specific London Jewish accent - Pinter and Tafler were both Jewish and both from Hackney. By the way Tafler's performance is even better than Pinter's.

[@kathyflorcruz552]

​@@ajs41Wow. What a psyop that was. Look what's developed since then due to that.

[@tweegeTX3]

Bloke playing Stanley was the weak link in terms of acting. From the comments it seems that was Pinter himself. Stick by my comment

[@TYAmentor]

The whole cast is excellent, including Stanley.

[@manfromnocky]

Pinter plays Goldberg....of course.

[@tweegeTX3]

@@manfromnocky I stand corrected

[@rosario508]

I think he’s outstanding. What exactly is your issue?

[@LANCSKID]

Kenneth Cranham is one of our finest and most versatile actors.