Harold Pinter

The Dumb Waiter

First presented at the Hampstead Theatre Club on 21st January 1960.

Dramatis personae:
There are two characters Ben and Gus. They are both dressed in shirts, trousers and braces. They are hitmen. They both are protagonists but you empathize more with Gus. Gus is more sensitive and has questions about his job and his boss, Wilson. ´GUS (thoughtfully). I find him hard to talk to, Wilson. Do you know that, Ben? BEN. Scrub round it, will you? Pause. GUS. There are a number of things I want to ask him. But I can never get round to it, when I see him. Pause. I’ve been thinking about the last one. BEN. What last one? GUS. That girl.´ (p.145-146) Between the two Ben is the more violent one and the boss. He finds himself more sophisticated and he is older. During a discussing about if you ´light a kettle´ or ´put on the kettle´; ´BEN. Who’s the senior partner here, me or you? GUS. You. BEN. I’m only looking after your interests, Gus. You’ve got to learn, mate.´ (p. 142) Ben doesn’t question their job and strictly follows Wilson’s instructions. Wilson is the man who gives the order to kill certain people. He never appears in the play but the messages trough the dumb waiter might be from him. He is a mysterious figure and you can compare him with Godot, in Beckett´s ´waiting for Godot´. Both these characters play an important role in the conversations and minds of the characters but do not appear in the play.

Plot

Gus and Ben are waiting in a basement room till they get an order from their boss Wilson to kill someone. The time passes slowly. Ben reads a paper and they discuss two articles from it. They also talk about making tea, the bathroom, soccer and more. Gus starts talking about their job and their boss several times during the play. At one moment their slides an envelope under the door with matches. Ben sends Gus out to see if someone is outside but they are too late. Later they hear something coming down and there seems to be a serving hatch, a ´dumb waiter´ in the room. There is a piece of paper in it with an order for food on it. While discussing the ´dumb waiter´ goes up and down again and theirs again an order for food in it. They decide to fetch one of the plates and send it up again. They do it again and this time Gus screams in the hatch what they are sending. They get another order trough the dumb waiter but they are out of food. When they decide to write a note Gus find a speaking tube. This tube is connected with upstairs. Ben talks trough this tube with somebody or pretends he is talking to someone on the other side. We can only hear what Ben has to say. Ben tells Gus to light the kettle because upstairs they want tea. Gus starts talking but Ben stays doesn’t respond. Ben decides that it is time for the instruction. He instructs Gus on how to handle when they get to call. Apparently they have done this many times because Gus corrects Ben. Another time a food order comes down. Gus gets angry on the people upstairs, his boss and job. At last he is going to get a glass of water. In the meantime the whistle in the speaking tube blows what means that someone from upstairs want to speak. Ben picks it up listens and answers. When he hangs up he calls for Gus. When Gus enters Ben raises his gun to him. They play ends with a long silence in which they stare at each other.

Space

The whole play takes place in a basement room. Pinter describes it as follows: ´Scene: A basement room. Two beds, flat against the back wall. A serving hatch, closed, between the beds. A door to the kitchen and lavatory, left. A door to a passage, right.´ (p. 129) The service hatch, here called ´dumb waiter´, connects with a floor above. We don’t get to know how many floors the building has. The characters are not meant to leave the basement room. It functions as some sort of prison were Ben and Gus enter everyday to wait for instructions from there boss. They are not allowed to leave the basement and there is no connection to the outside world like a phone or window. The lavatory and kitchen are not visible but we can hear once in a while the toilet flushing.

Time

The scene takes place in the late afternoon or evening. This can only be made up out of the conversation, because there is no window or whatsoever. The characters have had a usual day waiting for an assignment from Wilson. You get the idea that the time passes slowly because the characters are bored. Ben has read the paper many times. We get the impression that they have worked together for many years because they are talking about a football match ´once´ that they had seen and about the ´test´ they did for Wilson many years ago.

Language

There use of language is not very sophisticated. It is more lower class-language. Ben feels himself more sophisticated but his way of talking isn’t very different from Gus. `BEN. Didn’t touch him! What are you talking about? He laid him out flat! GUS. Not the Villa. The Villa don’t play that sort of game. BEN. Get out of it. Pause.´ (p. 137-138) There language is quite violent and there are a lot of pauses/silences in the play. Most of the time it’s Ben who is not responding and for that reason causing the silences. The speaking tube is the symbol for the way Gus and Ben mostly talk. You can’t speak and listen at the same time though this tube, what makes it impossible to communicate. Ben and Gus also seem to have problems communicating.