In one of Pinter’s most memorable works, The Birthday Party, Meg and Petey Boles run a boarding house in their small, sleepy seaside town. They have only one lodger: the reclusive, bitter Stanley, hiding away from the world outside. All changes, though, with the arrival of two mysterious visitors, the charming Goldberg and the menacing McCann. Stanley is immediately on edge, suspicious that the men are there for him, but Meg is too delighted by her new guests to pay him any heed. Goldberg convinces Meg to throw Stanley a birthday party, though he insists it isn’t his birthday. As the festivities barrel forward, out of anyone’s control, the celebration turns dark and a game of blindman’s bluff grows violent as Stanley’s past catches up with him, threatening to shatter him inside and out.
The Birthday Party guide sections
