READING MODULE

Subject: TEATRO INGLÉS S. XIX Y XX

Code: 14227 group: B

NPA: CL46706 Mª JOSEFA GÓMEZ GARCÍA

Harold Pinter, Party Time. Copy from “reprogarfia” at the university. First performed on 31 October 1991 in London.

Dramatis personae

Terry He is man of forty, bossy with his wife.

Gavin Hi is the host of the party, a man in his fifties.

Dusty She is a woman in her twenties, she is Terry’s partner. Always worrying

about what happens to the others.

Melissa She is a woman of seventy, she is a guest at the party.

Liz She is guest, she is a fancy woman in her thirties. She is in love with

Douglas.

Charlotte She is a guest, She is in her thirties, she seems to have had an affair

With Fred in the past.

Fred He is a guest, a man of fifty.

Jimmy He is a young man, he is a guest and the brother of Dusty. He speaks very

Dramatically. As though somebody that has gone trough a lot of pain.

Plot

It is a party at Gavin’s house, the rest of people are all his guests, they keep telling him about a new tennis and swimming club that they all belong to which seems to be very fancy and glamorous. They all try to convince Gavin to join them in the club. They all flirt with each other except Jimmy who appears at the very end. He seems to be the awkward and problematic one. Dusty, her sister is all the time worried about him.

Space

It all happens in a large room.

Time

Linear time. It all just takes few hours of a day, we do not know whether it is day or night time.

Literary resources

They speak prose, colloquial and middle class language.

Other aspects

Political and social; There seems to be some trouble outside the house the guests

complain about the stage of the roads an the traffic in England.

Costs of production; It should not be a too expensive production.

Technical problems; There should not be mayor difficulties to perform this play

Personal opinion

It is an easy to read play. It shows pretty well the environment of the petite English bourgeoisie parties. However there must be something that escapes from my perception on the play. For instance I can not grasp the reason for the anguish in Jimmy. Probably there is the key to understand the whole play. On the other hand it is a ferocious critic of the bourgeoisie, its vanity and its indifference to the suffering ones like Jimmy.