Harold Pinter (1930–2008) was already highly acclaimed in 1988, when this book was originally published, and went on to become one of the most influential modern British dramatists, with a career that spanned over 50 years.
This study reveals Pinter's dramatic and theatrical stratagems and his place in contemporary drama at the time. Five of its eight chapters are devoted to his plays and their performances. Chapter 1 introduces them through short quotations from his plays, each followed by how they show his methods. A biographical survey is next. Chapter 3, "Menace and the Absurd," treats his early plays, including The Room and The Birthday Party, as "comedies of menace," a pun on "comedies of manners," and as theatre of the absurd. Following this, "Toward Greater Realism" explains common features of such plays as The Caretaker. "Struggles for Power" features The Collection and The Homecoming. In "Memory Plays," Old Times is prominent. "Recapitulations and Fresh Starts" analyses No Man's Land, Betrayal, and A Kind of Alaska. Stage productions are a vital part of these discussions of his plays. Finally, "The Place of Pinter" summarizes his oeuvre and his position in English drama.