Title: the collection

Author: Harold Pinter                                            

Date of publication: 1961

Place:  Londres

Dramatis personae:

In this play appear only four characters: Harry, a man of about forty years; James, a man with approximately thirty years; Stella, a woman on thirty years; and Bill, a man of about twenty years. Harry is a man who lives with Bill and tries to help him when he sees that this one has a problem with James. James is a boy who is living with Stella. Bill is a young person who is itself suddenly involved in a mess of "acts of infidelity" between James and Stella. And Stella, a woman who invent "a supposedly unfaithful" history with Bill.

Plot:

The play begins with a mysterious call in house of Harry. The mysterious voice, ask for Bill. The voice is the voice of James, a boy of thirty years who lives with his woman Stella. James makes that call because he wants to know if Bill has embroiled with his woman while this one was in a conference in Leeds, since her woman had said to him that he had been unfaithful. James finally speaks with Bill, which admits that he know Stella, but he say that he haven’t had any type of sexual approach with her. James tries to clarify everything with Bill. Nobody know who lies. The play finalizes without nothing clarified.

Space, time and other aspects:

The space in which the play is developed are two flats; to the left it appears the house of Harry in Belgravia. To the right of the scene, it appears the flat of James in Chelsea. Two different houses, are separated in two different spaces. About time, the play begins at night, and it is developed without defining the concrete time. The language that is used in the play is colloquial. In this play, we can find many repetitions, silences…

Personal opinion:

It is a strange play. Harold Pinter leaves an open final in which he don’t say what is the true.

I think that it is a good play because the open final makes that everyone thinks its best end.