The Birthday Party
Jack Oakes Theatre, Paula Production
Through Nov 18

Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party revolves around two tough business-suit types who arrive at a boardinghouse in a small, English, coastal town. They are looking for Stanley Weber, a loafer who has been holing up there for over a year. Upon finding him, they interrogate him, threaten him, and then throw a birthday party for him in which, through manipulation, flashlights, and alcohol, they reduce him to a quivering wreck.

Then they take him away. Their purpose is wonderfully mysterious. They imply that they are members of a special club, perhaps a gang, that Stan flaked on. Then they imply that Stan is at the boarding house to escape a murder he committed. None of these implications are verified, or even pondered. In one scene, they question and accuse Stan of various crimes and misdemeanors so quickly, that he doesn't even have time to react. The audience feels the same way. Harold Pinter's plays are always confusing; by the end of the play, you wonder if Stan even knows the crime he committed.

There are many choices for a production to make here that would never completely explain what is happening, but could at least imbue the strange events with conviction. Pinter writes like he knows what is going on. Likewise, the production in question must seem like it does, too. The problem with the current version at Paula Productions is that the director, George Fosgate, doesn't seem to know what is going on, or if he does, he doesn't have a strong enough cast to bring his idea to fruition. The actors here, with the exceptions of Leonard Hermann and Garland Lyons as thugs Goldberg and McCann, seemed as if it was an effort just to be standing on stage, let alone delivering dialogue of great complexity and nuance. They were also battling awful English accents that got in the way of distinct line readings. Only Hermann had the courage to toss out the accent completely, giving the strongest performance of the night as a man calm, confident, intelligent, and extremely dangerous.

Pinter's words are always thought provoking, but like any play, need passion and energy behind them to become truly powerful. Choices must be made. Investigating the text within its surreal context is a daunting task, but an essential one. This production feels like it didn't do its homework and now, has nothing to stand on except the natural talent of a few nice voices.