Citizen, Playwright

In 1958 I wrote the following:

"There are no hard distinctions between what is real and what is unreal,nor between what is true and what is false. A thing is not necessarily eithertrue or false; it can be both true and false."

I believe that these assertions still make sense and do still apply to theexploration of reality through art. So as a writer I stand by them but as acitizen I cannot. As a citizen I must ask: What is true? What is false?

-- On his website, Haroldpinter.org

Harold Pinter was born on 10 October1930 in the London borough of Hackney, son of a Jewish dressmaker. Growing up,Pinter was met with the expressions of anti-Semitism, and has indicated itsimportance for his becoming a dramatist. At the outbreak of the Second WorldWar, he was evacuated from London at the age of nine, returning when twelve. Hehas said that the experience of wartime bombing has never lost its hold on him.Back in London, he attended Hackney Grammar School where he played Macbeth andRomeo among other characters in productions directed by Joseph Brearley. Thisprompted him to choose a career in acting. In 1948 he was accepted at the RoyalAcademy of Dramatic Art. In 1950, he published his first poems. In 1951 he wasaccepted at the Central School of Speech and Drama. That same year, he won aplace in Anew McMaster's famous Irish repertory company, renowned for itsperformances of Shakespeare. Pinter toured again between 1954 and 1957, usingthe stage name of David Baron. Between 1956 and 1980 he was married to actorVivien Merchant. In 1980 he married the author and historian Lady AntoniaFraser.

Pinter made his playwriting debut in 1957 with The Room,presented in Bristol. Other early plays were The Birthday Party (1957),at first a fiasco of legendary dimensions but later one of his most performedplays, and The Dumb Waiter (1957). His conclusive breakthrough came with TheCaretaker (1959), followed by The Homecoming (1964) and other plays.

Harold Pinter is generally seen as the foremostrepresentative of British drama in the second half of the 20th century. That heoccupies a position as a modern classic is illustrated by his name entering thelanguage as an adjective used to describe a particular atmosphere andenvironment in drama: "Pinteresque".

Pinter restored theatre to its basic elements: an enclosedspace and unpredictable dialogue, where people are at the mercy of each otherand pretence crumbles. With a minimum of plot, drama emerges from the powerstruggle and hide-and-seek of interlocution. Pinter's drama was first perceivedas a variation of absurd theatre, but has later more aptly been characterised as"comedy of menace", a genre where the writer allows us to eavesdrop onthe play of domination and submission hidden in the most mundane ofconversations. In a typical Pinter play, we meet people defending themselvesagainst intrusion or their own impulses by entrenching themselves in a reducedand controlled existence. Another principal theme is the volatility andelusiveness of the past.

Pinter has also written radio plays and screenplays for film and television.Among his best-known screenplays are those for The Servant (1963), TheAccident (1967), The Go-Between (1971) and The French Lieutenant'sWoman (1981, based on the John Fowles novel). Pinter has also made apioneering contribution as a director.

It is said of Harold Pinter that following an initialperiod of psychological realism he proceeded to a second, more lyrical phasewith plays such as Landscape (1967) and Silence (1968) and finallyto a third, political phase with One for the Road (1984), MountainLanguage (1988), The New World Order (1991) and other plays. But thisdivision into periods seems oversimplified and ignores some of his strongestwriting, such as No Man's Land (1974) and Ashes to Ashes (1996).In fact, the continuity in his work is remarkable, and his political themes canbe seen as a development of the early Pinter's analysing of threat andinjustice.

Since 1973, Pinter has won recognition as a fighter for human rights,alongside his writing. He has often taken stands seen as controversial. Pinter'sinterest in politics is a very public one. Over the years he has spoken outforcefully about the abuse of state power around the world

For recent activism on Iraq, please click here

Information courtesy: Nobelprize.organd Haroldpinter.org.