This important book offers a thematic collection of critical essays, ideal for undergraduate courses on modern British theatre, on Harold Pinter's theatrical works, alongside new interviews with contemporary theatre practitioners.
The life and works of Harold Pinter (1930–2008), a pivotal figure in twentieth- and twenty-first century British theatre, have been widely discussed, debated and celebrated internationally. For over five decades, Pinter's work traversed and redefined various forms and genres, constantly in dialogue with, and often impacting the work of, other writers, artists and activists. He is today considered one of the most important British playwrights ever to have lived.
Through combining a reconsideration of key Pinter scholarship with new contexts, voices and theoretical approaches, it opens up fresh insights into the author's work, politics, collaborations and his enduring status as one of the world's foremost twentieth-century dramatists.
Divided into three parts, the book is compiled of a collection of chapters that re-contextualize Pinter as a cultural figure; explore and interrogate his influence on contemporary British playwriting; and offer a series of original interviews with theatre-makers engaging in the staging of Pinter's work today. Reconsiderations of Pinter's relationship to literary and theatrical movements such as Modernism and the Theatre of the Absurd; interrogations of the role of class, elitism and religious and cultural identity sit alongside chapters on Pinter's personal politics, specifically in relation to the Middle East.
Basil Chiasson is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Information and Media Studies and the Creative Arts Program at Western University, Canada. His publications on Harold Pinter include articles, book chapters, book reviews and one monograph,
The Late Harold Pinter: Political Dramatist, Poet and Activist (2017). Other research and publications include articles and book chapters on neoliberalism and performance in contemporary British drama. From 2017 to 2019 he was a Research Fellow on the Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded project, Harold Pinter: Histories and Legacies, where he worked on an open-access database which captures the British production history of Pinter's works for stage, screen and radio.
Mark Taylor-Batty is Associate Professor of Theatre Studies and Deputy Head of School in the School of English at the University of Leeds, UK. His previous publications include
The Theatre of Harold Pinter (Bloomsbury, 2014),
About Pinter: The Playwright and the Work (Faber and Faber, 2005),
Roger Blin: Collaborations and Methodologies (Peter Lang, 2007) and, he co-authored with his wife, Juliette Taylor-Batty,
Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot (Continuum, 2009).
Catriona Fallow teaches in the Department of Drama at Queen Mary University of London, UK. Between 2017 to 2019 she was a Research Fellow on the Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded project, Harold Pinter: Histories and Legacies, based at the University of Birmingham. She is currently contributing to collections on the #MeToo movement (
Performing #MeToo: How Not to Look Away, 2020) and the work of Dennis Kelly (2021). Catriona's work has been published in
Studies in Theatre and Performance and presented at various conferences and symposia nationally and internationally.
Enoch Brater is the Kenneth T. Rowe Collegiate Professor of Dramatic Literature, Professor of English and Theater at the University of Michigan and the series editor of Methuen Drama's Miller scholarly editions. He has written extensively on the work of Samuel Beckett and Arthur Miller.
Enoch Brater is the Kenneth T. Rowe Collegiate Professor of Dramatic Literature, Professor of English and Theater at the University of Michigan. He is series editor of Methuen Drama's Arthur Miller scholarly editions, and with Mark Taylor-Batty of Methuen Drama's Engage series. He has written extensively on the work of Samuel Beckett and Arthur Miller.
