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Pinter’s ‘Room’ at City Theater

Poster of the play
Poster of the play

The play ‘The Room’ written by English playwright Harold Pinter and directed by Fatemeh Alihosseini is on stage at Tehran City Theater.

It is Pinter’s first play, written in 1957, and the whole play takes place in a room where a couple, Rose and Bert, their old landlord Mr. Kidd, another young couple Mr. and Mrs. Sands speak about many different, and sometimes irrational, subjects. Later, a blind black man, Riley, who has purportedly been waiting in the basement, suddenly arrives upstairs to the room, to deliver a mysterious message to Rose from her father.

On selecting the play, Alihosseini, who is having her debut directorial experience, said she studied Pinter’s works as part of her university project.

“I believe ‘The Room’ is Pinter’s most complete work which influenced his later works in a way that some of the characters reappeared in other plays by the author,” Honaronline quoted her as saying.

Considered by critics as the earliest example of Pinter’s “comedy of menace,” the play has features considered the hallmarks of Pinter’s early work: subtle yet contradictory and ambiguous characterizations; a plot featuring reversals and surprises that can be both funny and emotionally moving; and an unconventional ending that leaves at least some questions unresolved.

Also a screenwriter, director and actor, Pinter (1930-2008), won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2005. He is one of the most influential modern British dramatists whose writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include ‘The Homecoming’ (1964) and ‘Betrayal’ (1978), each of which he adapted for the screen as well.

The cast of ‘The Room’ includes Morteza Esmailkashi, Roya Mirelmi, Rahim Norouzi, Elaheh Shahparast and Farshid Torabi.

Staged from June 6, the play will be performed until June 17 at the City Theater located at Daneshjoo Park, junction of Vali-e-Asr St. and Enqelab Ave.

 

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