We launch the Pinter Legacies database with a new interview with Samuel West
We are delighted to formally launch the Harold Pinter Histories and Legacies database today. To mark this event, we are releasing an interview with Samuel West that was conducted by Alexander Lass for the Pinter Legacies project in February this year. You can hear the interview on our Soundcloud account. West is an actor and director with a significant profile in the history of the production of Pinter’s works in … Continue reading →
‘possibly apocryphal’: Anecdotes and Memories of Pinter
Much of our time on the Harold Pinter: Histories and Legacies project is concerned with locating, exploring and documenting ‘official’ historical traces of the life and work of Harold Pinter via various archives, libraries and published works. What we have also discovered however, is that a project of this scale focused on the creative output of one person is bound to uncover, solicit or otherwise happen across its fair share … Continue reading →
Harold Pinter at ITV
Although primarily remembered as a theatrical writer, Harold Pinter’s early dramas reached a greater audience through Britain’s recently launched commercial television network, ITV. Between 1960 and 1966, ITV viewers enjoyed eight plays by Pinter, all broadcast in evening prime time, a full-length production of The Birthday Party (1960) followed by versions of The Dumb Waiter, The Room (both 1961) and The Caretaker (1966). In addition, ITV premiered four original Pinter … Continue reading →
Power to the People: Pinter, Amateur Performance and the Questors Theatre
There can be little doubt that Pinter’s professional career benefitted hugely from the commercial theatre sector in the West End and Broadway, from state-subsidised organisations like the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, or public broadcasting services like the BBC. One of the primary aims of the Harold Pinter: Histories and Legacies project is to trace, chart, archive and contextualise every professional production of Harold Pinter’s plays in the … Continue reading →
Pinter at the BBC: What the Censor Sees.
The long-awaited BFI DVD collection, Pinter at the BBC, is released today. Over five discs, the anthology includes 10 versions of Pinter plays made by the BBC between 1965-88. As all ten are new to any home video format, the release increases the amount of Pinter UK television material publicly available by 500%. In addition to the plays, the collection also includes a wealth of supplementary material – four of … Continue reading →
Shut It Down: The Many Faces of Censorship
Two days recently spent in the Pinter Archive, at the British Library, have predictably enough turned up a few more gems. During this visit, I looked at a number of scrapbooks containing materials relating to Pinter’s political activism. Taking a broad view of the items Pinter collected over several decades makes it easier to spot the themes at work. For example, the items Pinter collated into scrapbook form through the … Continue reading →
Happy Birthday, Harold: Pinter at the Pinter’s Memento Mori
On Wednesday the 10th of October 2018, Harold Pinter would have turned 88. 10 years after his death, the Jamie Lloyd Company (the team behind the unprecedented Pinter at the Pinter season currently running at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London’s West End until February 2019) gathered together an all-star cast of performers to celebrate his legacy in a one-off gala event, Happy Birthday, Harold. Framing the event as a birthday – … Continue reading →
Reflections on the ‘Pinter on Film, Television and Radio’ conference, 19-20 September 2018
The University of Reading arm of the Pinter Histories and Legacies project—peopled by Professor Jonathan Bignell, Dr Billy Smart and Dr Amanda Wrigley—were thrilled to welcome project colleagues and an international group of academic friends old and new from an exciting range of disciplines to the University of Reading’s Minghella Studies, the home of the Film, Theatre and Television Department, on 19 September 2018 for the first day of the … Continue reading →
Booking open for ‘Pinter on Film, Television and Radio’ conferences at University of Reading and British Library (19-20 September 2018)
[This is a post for the 2018 conference. For the 2019 conference in Leeds, please click here] Booking is now open for our two day ‘Pinter on Film, Television and Radio’ conference, held at the University of Reading on Wednesday September 19 and the British Library on Thursday September 20. Each day has a particular focus. ‘Pinter on Screen’ at Reading deals with Pinter’s work on film and television, while … Continue reading →
Harold Pinter at the RSC (Part 2): Reflections on the Archive
One of the consistent pleasures of research into the production histories of Pinter’s theatrical work for this project has been the opportunity to learn from and work with the archivists and librarians at different institutions that hold rich and varied material connected with Pinter’s expansive career. Of course, as with any research strategy – particularly those engaged in revisiting or reassessing traces of past performances – archival research is not … Continue reading →