The Birthday Party

Bolton Little Theatre kick off 2025 with Harold Pinter’s comedy of menace, The Birthday Party. Pinter’s first full length play and based on an experience he had in a boarding house himself. Set in the late 50’s it really crosses The Theatre of Cruelty with the Theatre of the Absurd. Being both cruel and absurd, we witness as the audience the cruelness as it explores the themes of bullying and isolation while making no sense in parts. Artaud talks of isolation and cruelty and this had it in bucket loads. We have a lengthy scene where the words centre around getting Stanley to sit down. The cruelty and comedy come out strong in this.

It was set in the kitchen and parlour of a boarding house. As we enter a chair with knitted cover thrown over it. A table laid for two with china cups and saucers and glass sugar bowl. A small sideboard with brass ornaments and dressing table buffet at the side. A tall stand with spider plant and books on. A partition is three quarters across the acting area which acts as the wall with serving hatch with two doors, The kitchen is visible and the partition moves to create more acting space for other scenes. An old-fashioned gas cooker with frying pan and kettle on it. A teapot with knitted tea cosy is visible as is an old-fashioned glass milk bottle. Various objets d’art for a kitchen fill the shelves. A tin of brasso, a tartan tea flask to name a few. Two entrances and exits were ether side one to the outside and the other to the bedrooms. On the walls was a picture and old-fashioned light switch. A patterned rug graced the floor. Set Design was Helen Livesey and Simon Mott and Set Builders were Jolyon Coombs, Andrew Garfield and Steve Butler. Props were all in keeping and great to see a steaming tea being poured. Props Jade Mulraney and Judith Leigh.

Costumes all looked fitting and Meg’s Pink taffeta dress was a hoot. Stanley’s grubby appearance and seen-better-days cardigan all worked. Wardrobe Janet Hardman and Judith Leigh.  Lighting had to play a big part in this play and it worked. Lighting Design Peter Gower and John Lyon, operation Catherine Cropper. Sound effects set the scene with seagulls and crashing waves and eerie version of Happy Birthday all added to set the scene. Sound Design and Operation John Lyon.

Director Simon Mott takes on one of Pinter’s more performed plays and I do often wonder how directors, when they have finished rehearsing something like this come round, as it is heavy going and multi-faceted. The action is kept going and done in the Forge, actor placement works and no actor was stood too long in one position. The group of characters while at odds with each other were cohesive together. We are never sure what the two strangers are called and they often forget and call each other a different name maybe alluding to all the alias’s they go by adding to the intrigue. It did have a feel of a Quentin Tarantino movie.

Ashley Hambrook plays McCann. It’s clear McCann is not sure why they are there and just wants to get the job done whatever that is and get out. He struck me as the heavy - the one that does the dirty deed again whatever that is. He is uncomfortable in the house and that comes across.

Mark Bloomfield plays Petey. The character comes across as non-descript but clearly knows what’s going on and turns a blinds eye. In fact, you want to shake him to stand up to the strangers but he just shouts after Stanley as he is led away. He is a great foil for his wife and the conversation you soon realise is the same every morning.

Lulu is played by Kim Riley-Shipperbottom. Lulu is flirtatious with Stanley and he knocks her back. Not many people can make cheese sexy but Kim did. She then says she likes older men and flirts with Goldberg who enjoys it. Does that annoy Stanley into attacking her (who knows)? She is very distressed the next morning and her ripped tights are a clue as to what might have gone on. She is a different person and certainly has not enjoyed the night. The pair - Goldberg and McCann - turn their bullying towards her, showing their disgust of her and the fear is well played out by Kim. We witness two sides to this character.

Goldberg played by Peter Scofield made me think of Men in Black but more sinister, hints at his own past but we never actually get to know what happened. He mentions more than one name he has gone by in the past. This complex character appears to be the instigator (or does he answer to someone higher?). He has money, it’s hinted that he has an expensive car. He’s extremely courteous and then Peter has a flash across his face and he turns on his victim. Peter plays the role very erratically - not in a I-don’t-know-what-I’m-doing way - but as the character flitting about with his own thoughts: so, you do not know if he’s mad or just enjoying himself. He even does this to his sidekick.

Meg is Played by Catherine Henderson, married to Petey. A bit of an enigma - not much intelligence but jumps from maternal mother to child in a heartbeat. It makes you think what is going on here? when Catherine touches Stanley in a flirty way, who is the venerable one - Stanley or her? Catherine’s deadpan, everything is ‘lovely in the garden, Maude’ attitude - always stating the obvious - works and she notices nothing. Only that Stanley has not had his breakfast. She does not remember he tried to strangle her the night before - Catherine played through the innocence and it worked.

Stanley the birthday boy played by Ben Latham comes in clothes stained and for his party puts on a moth-eaten cardigan. At the end the pair have dressed him in a suit and combed his hair making him look the most presentable, like a lamb to slaughter. We see Ben present a chaotic character outwardly as he enters at the beginning and then that is internalised and we witness a man on the edge, broken and spent. Ben actually has a lot of time when he does not say anything but others are talking at him or about him. He internalises that and we see the pain and confusion of the character. We as the audience never know what the men want - does Stanley know what the men want (that is unimportant)? What we are witnessing is how words and action have an impact on an individual.

This is theatre of cruelty – it’s not an easy watch but it’s an interesting one and love it or hate it must surely spark a debate and I am sure the theatre practitioner new and old will be doing a little dance of the conversations this production has opened up.

Thank you for the invite and hospitality from my guest Angela and I

Liz Hume-Dawson, D5 rep.

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