The Representation of The Play "The Birthday Party" In BBC Production

Mst. Anjuman Ara

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The BBC production of the play "The Birthday Party'' is a masterful illustration of the
original play, written by Harold Pinter.

Firstly, absurdity in the play has been depicted visually through some scenes, events and
activities of the characters. The most prominent scene of absurdity arises in the Cross
Examination Scene, where Stanley was interrogated by two strangers, Goldberg and Mccann.
The scene signifies some series of nonsensical questions where Stanley has been accused of
many things, killing his wife, "throttled with arsenic" which apparently makes no sense as no
one can be throttled with arsenic. Questions like "Which came first? chicken? egg?" on the
part of them evidence the absurdity of the scene. Again, the reason and motto of their
questioning remains unsolved and vague. Secondly, the last scene of the play is one of the
most absurd visual representations where Stanley gets ready wearing a "dark well cut suit"
and goes with Goldberg and Mccann in spite of knowing the impending doom and he never
seems to be resisting them. The absurdity of the play also furthers with the showcasing of the
visual event of the Birthday party itself. Stanley never in the play has been seen uttering the
date of his birthday; rather it is Meg who made up the whole idea of the Birthday and it is
Goldberg, a stranger, who proposed the whole Birthday Party which Stanley repeatedly
denies. Again in the whole party the absurd encounter of Lulu and Goldberg, their flirting
with each, and then Stanley's suddenly assaulting both Lulu and Meg, again imply nothing
meaningful. The whole event begets some unsolvable confusion. Lastly, everyday mundane
activities like having breakfast, reading the newspaper have been shown with great
importance at the very beginning of the play which is absurd.

In the BBC production of the play, some Pinter pauses can be noticed. The first one is when
Stanley starts to describe the concerts he had attended as a Piano Player. He mentioned all he
has seen and participated in but after an abrupt pause he quickly moves on expressing his
memory of his father being present there.

They came up to me. They'd come up to me and said they'll be grateful. Champagne, we
had that night.
[…]
My father nearly came down the wheel. Well, I dropped him a card anyway. But i don’t
think he could make it. No, I lost the address. That was it.

The effect here is to confuse the audience about Stanley’s memory and confirm his mentally
disturbed state of which he was showing a lot of symptoms by misbehaving with Meg. Also
this scene can be interpreted as Stanley’s regret of losing touch with his father and still
seeking approval from him which may contribute to his mentally disturbed state.

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The Representation of The Play "The Birthday Party" In BBC Production

The second example of Pinter pause can be when Stanley was blindfolded in the game
“Blind Man's Bluff” at the party. Mccann was the former blind man of the game. When
Stanley was blindfolded and moving along, Mccann was the one in front of him, it created a
sense of tension in the audience about what would be the first move among these two
persons who somewhat are on the same page about the party(Not liking the idea of the
party).
And Mccann as his first move, broke Stanley’s spectacles into smithereens, effectively
causing him to be unable to take any single step without other’s help, as Stanley was so
much dependent on his spectacles and couldn’t see properly to even walk through the
house as depicted in a scene earlier. The first act of McCann after the pause was an act
of revenge from him to his opponent at his weakest moment creating a sense of
sympathy among the audience for Stanley and drawing a clear line in the play dividing
the characters as protagonist and antagonist.

The actors of the play, although communicating nothing concrete, are conveying some form
of truth through their activities and dialogues. The cross examination scene where Stanley is
accused of "betraying an organisation" this very part can be seen as an exposure of Stanley's
past. From the bird’s eye view the story of the play can be interpreted as a rescue of a
deviated revolutionist or the revenge of a terrorist organisation. Stanley here is depicted as a
person who lost his sanity or at least became not presentable to the society as a normal person
but had an involvement with some sort of Irish organisation in the past. Now when he tries to
pass his days hitting the rock bottom of his life, the people he worked with have come to
rescue him and ensure proper treatment for him, or his past work associates have come to
punish him for his deviation and leaving the cause they were working for. This phenomenon
of being haunted by the past can be recognized at an individual level where even if a human
wants to get away from the consequences of his past activities just by forgetting them,
everybody must pay for his/her sins. Also if we take the possibility of rescuing into account,
then that gives us the message that the good deeds in our past may continue to benefit us in
the future as well. There can be another interpretation of the story. It reminds us of the spy
missions and revenge-killing throughout the world after the second world war bringing the
so-called justice on the war-criminals. The possibility aligns with the contemporary situation
of the world. Probably It hints towards the cunningness and cruelty of the spy agencies and
how far they can go to chase their person of interest.

Apart from this, some individual activities and dialogues of the play can be taken into
consideration where specific characters try to pass on to us specific messages. Beginning can
be traced back to the first scene where Meg showed a little bit dissatisfaction with the news of
the newborn girl and expressed that she would have preferred a boy showing us the then
gender discrimination and prejudice against the woman. Furthermore, when Stanley talked
about the "Wheelbarrow" the underlying tension and anxiety in Meg's expression reveals her
fear of being punished which probably hints at some past deeds associated with her. Meg also
suffers from some mental conditions, mild yet present there. Even if the party was going to be
held in her own house, she was repeatedly asking Goldberg about the specifics of the party to
decide. Even at the party, she expressed her tendency of seeking approval from other people

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to feel important and her existence justified. These can be further strengthened by her
confession of being the “Belle of the Ball” at the end of the play.

Individual activities from the party include Goldberg and Lulu hooking up with one another,
and afterwards Lulu's accusing Goldberg for the whole situation even though she was
completely aware of it and consented to him at every juncture as an adult, This phenomenon
represents the tendency of victim playing after committing a lewd act. Thus, even though the
actors are communicating nothing concrete they are still conveying some form of truth both
bits by bits and as a whole.