Jose Sospedra
Canovas
Author: Harold Pinter
Title: The Collection
Editorial: Faber and
Faber
Year and place
published: 1961,
London
The Collection, a play written by
Harnold Pinter, was presented in 1961 in London y was represented for the first
time in 1962 in Aldwich Theatre, directed by Peter Hall
In the play appears 4
characters.
Harry is a man, he is 40. He is
responsible, he is the flat mate of Bill, a young of 20 who is designer of clothes. James and
Stela are a couple in their 30ies. James acusses Bill of have had relations with
his wife. Stela is a model that kwon
Bill working.
The play starts with a anonymus call
to Harry at four at night. He/She want to talk to Bill but Harry says to them
that he is sleeping. The anonymus man or woman tells him that it is urgent, but
Harry declines to wake up Bill. The next day, being Bill awake, the anonymus
calls again and explains him that he must talk to him as soon as possible.
Finally James, who is the anonymus man, tells Bill that his wife Stella has said
to him what happened the before weekend. Stella had told James that she and Bill
coincided at the same hotel in Leeds and that they only kissed in the elevator, but each one slept in
his bedroom. Harry goes to talk to Stella and she tells him another thing which is totally opposed of that she had
told to her husband. When she finishes of relating all, Harry comes back home
and he meets James and Bill in a critic moment, James had thrown a knife to
Bill.All get calm when Harry tells to them that he had talked to Stella ans she
Had confessed that nothing happened
between Bill and Stella. But when James is leaving the house, Bill says
that they were together during two
hours and they talked about what would occur if they have gone in to the room.
James, happy, comes back to his home and talks to her wife, but she doesn’t
affirm anything, but she doesn’t
refuse neither.
At the end of the play it is not
clear but it lets glimpse that something happened between Stella and
Bill.
The stage is divided ioon three
parts: on the left we can find Harry’s house, where Bill also lives. Bill is a
designer. On the right we can find tha apartment of James and Stella, also designer. In the
middle of the stage there is a telephone cabin. Inside of the cabin is someone
but he gives the back. During all the play are developed two separate
conversations but they have the same topic.
The space is the same throughout all
the play.
The story happens in autumne. The
story has temporal coherence, it has cronology sucesion. It happens in the
present.
In the play there are reference to
the past.
The play is written in prose. The
language is colloquial and very easy to understand. There are some
vulgarisms.
This is one of the most understandable plays of
Harold Pinter, and one of the most interesting. The play isn’t very dificult to
understand, but however there are thing not so clear, we don’t know who is
telling the truth.
I like very much the space in the play, and the
settin, I think ist is very original.
I don’t like this author, but this play, in my
opinion it is ok.