These two plays ‘Come and Go’ by Samuel Beckett and ‘Black and White’ by Harold Pinter both seem to carry very little meaning. On a surface level, both plays are short. ‘Black and White’ is a non-trusting play with evidence of emptiness. Both plays send out a message to the audience. This is shown particularly where there are silences throughout the plays.
Theatrical techniques used in ‘Come and Go’, show at the start of the play, clearly how the characters appear, saying that they are all ‘erect and hands clasped in laps facing front’. Whereas, in ‘Black and White’ by Harold Pinter, it starts of with a visual device on a minimalist set. ‘Black and White’ has only two main characters as apposed to three in ‘Come and Go’.
In ‘Black and White’, the characters come across as being old, one being small and the other tall. They come across to us, the audience, as very shallow people with very little to talk about. They seem to be non-trusting characters. Evidence from the play suggests that the second of the two women is more of a threatening, aggressive character than the first, who comes across as a calmer woman. The second woman shows aggression when saying ‘I said, clear off out of it before I call a copper’. The first woman shows she is calmer, by not getting worked up over things. ‘I like a bit of bread with my soup’. In ‘Come and Go’, the atmosphere between the women has less tension. The women are not realistic but anonymous, with no identity. Towards the end of this play, it shows the characters are calm when Vi says ‘May we not speak of the old days? (Silence) Of what came after? (Silence) shall we hold hands in the old way?’ This suggests memories may be appearing and the characters don’t really want to bring the subject up.
The language used in these two plays is very similar. In ‘Black and White’, the language is very colloquial and a lot of slang is used to emphasise the fact that they are in the bar having a typical woman’s chat. Pinter wrote this play with thought of building tension in it by writing ambiguous speeches. It is written in very olden day style with things being said slightly different to modern day language. In ‘Come and Go’, the language is short with nothing being too complex. The language suggests along with the food eat and where they are, that they have very little money. With very little being said, it suggests the play is very colourless except for when the three characters each say ‘oh’ and their two lines following. Here the language is proper and formal. It suggests that something might happen because the first line which opens the play, ‘When did we three last meet?’ refers to Shakespeare’s famous play Macbeth with the three witches. This then means the audiences expectations are ruined.
In ‘Black and White’, not much stage direction is used. Pinter has instead, described the surroundings the characters are in rather than what actions they do. I think this play is one which is set in one place and the character’s actions take place here right throughout the play. Neither of the two women leave from the bar table, all the actions, which happen take place there, such as when the first woman follows the progress of a bus through the window. It seems that in this play, all the action happens with the first woman, she is the one who is always gazing out of the window and following the buses past. In ‘Come and Go’, more directions are used. Directions used are rather detailed, giving indications where the characters move to and why. When the characters take their turns to look at each other and draw their finger to their lips, it suggests a hint of childish action. It’s something that you wouldn’t expect in an adult type of play. Each time a direction is given, each character changes position of pose. I think the title ‘Come and Go’ suggests there is going to be more movement in the play, I think it suggests the characters are coming and going in friendship. At the end of this play, the three characters take up position and all join each other’s hands, this to me seems like some kind of friendship ring, which has drawn them together. They each hold one another’s hands and sit in silence. The last thing said by Flo, ‘I can feel the rings’, sends it into silence to finish the play, here the audience probably feel although the play is referring to an old friendship that maybe once hung about the three characters and they are bringing back memories between them.
In the Theatre of the Absurd, the two plays ‘Come and Go’ by Samuel Beckett and ‘Black and White’ by Harold Pinter carry many similarities and differences. They are both plays which carry no meaning and characters have no identities. ‘Black and White’ is much longer than ‘Come and Go’. ‘Black and White’ is set in a more realistic modern way, of two women sat in a bar having a typical talk, watching the day go by. ‘Come and Go’ gives a more 1800’s feeling with the characters having 1800’s names and the setting being very abnormal to a normal more modern play. ‘Come and Go’ is a more atmospherically, tensional play with the characters being more active.
