11/13/1990

Read Pinter’s Homecoming and found it quite interesting. The best thing about it, like Rosemary’s Baby, is you can’t tell exactly what it is that’s going wrong until the very end, where most everything is spelled out for you in the grossest and most terrifying possible terms. The image that I got is one of a worker bee (Teddy) bringing back food (Ruth) to the hive (everybody else). The model would work well in terms of developing the off-stage relationships of the characters. The trade of Ruth for a sandwich is utterly slick and cold. This play has something stinging to say about men’s perceptions of women, and it has something cold to say about the family unit. Imagine wild dogs fighting over a roast. Icy!

Oh, yeah, one other thing about the play: this play explores the essence of the block (see Johnstone). The men deny one another speech, actions, and objects. This is the first time I’ve ever seen a playwright use a block correctly in a theatrical context (in my of course brilliant theatrical repertoire.) Pinter understands that a block is actually a form of non-acceptance, and therefore hostility. He uses blocks to demonstrate the men’s interrelationships. Cool beans!

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