Historical and Textual Research of Harold Pinter

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Performance Workshop Research

Historical Context:

The sketches ‘The Black and White’ and ‘That’s All’ were both written by Harold Pinter in 1959. During this era, many important events occurred. The 50’s saw the Korean War, the fashion of the ‘Teddy Boys’, ‘Sputnik 1’- the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth – was launched, and Queen Elizabeth II crowned. Whilst the 60’s saw a rebelling against the ‘norm’, fashion and music revolted with the forming of ‘Mods’ and ‘Rockers’, ‘The Beatles’ hit the big time, England won the world cup, Churchill died and men landed on the moon. The 60’s was a turning point for Britain; with an obvious increase in employment and therefore, a rise in income, a dramatic change in culture occurred, attitudes to class and sex were liberalized and the British working class ‘loosened up’.

Harold McMillan was a key part of this change. McMillan took a firm position in politics and bore a passionate hatred of the suffering of the British working class, caused by mass unemployment. To Labours’ shock, Harold McMillan led the Conservative party in 1959 to their third general election victory in a row. Churchill, Anthony Eden, Harold Macmillan and Sir Alec Douglas-Home continued to promote liberal trade regulations and less State involvement throughout the 1950s and early 1960s.

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Textual Research:

Strong themes in Pinter’s ‘The Black and White’ (1959) include: loneliness, boredom, friendship, time, abandonment, survival, escape from reality, isolation and silence.

 

Having watched the ‘The Servant’ (1963); a film of ‘…psychological domination in a class system…’ it is easy to witness the intricate relationships on screen and think of it as an ensemble piece. It does, of course intertwine the characters of ‘Barrett’ (Dirk Bogarde), ‘Tony’ (James Fox), ‘Vera’ (Sarah Miles) and ‘Susan’ (Wendy Craig) together so swiftly but it is Bogarde’s ‘Barrett’ that is the forerunner as the ‘key character’.

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