Tron Theatre, Glasgow, until 27 September 2003 then touring

HAROLD PINTER is an exceptionally precise writer. Even in this his debut play, first performed in 1958, his phrasing, his sense of place and his feel for character is exact. He might be describing an ambiguous air of menace, but there is nothing ambiguous about the way he does it.

So for director Guy Hollands to relocate The Birthday Party from an English seaside boarding house to an equivalent bed and breakfast in Scotland is more contentious than it might otherwise seem. This is a play set very particularly in a time and a place: a down-at-heel resort in an England not yet free of the post-war austerity that would fade with the onset of the 1960s. There is one character – Goldberg – who is explicitly Jewish, another – McCann – whom we presume Irish: both reflective of the social and cultural mix of the era.

It might not seem a big deal, but the Scottish accents coupled with Neil Warmington’s attractive set influenced not by the 50s but the following decade are enough to set Pinter’s world out of joint. It’s like watching one of those Shakespeare updates where you’re conscious of two plays going on in parallel: the original and the reworking. The characters are just not in the right place.

This is a shame, because there’s a lot to enjoy in this TAG Theatre Company production. All the actors give winning performances, whether it’s Alex Heggie and Katherine Stark as the dull-but-well-meaning guest house owners, Ronnie Simon as their mercurial lodger, Jo Freer as the flirtatious neighbour, and Stewart Porter and Bryan Larkin as the ominous outsiders with designs on the lodger.

They’re an entertaining team. The problem is they’re too entertaining. Pinter is all about restraint and what is left unsaid: this lot communicate too well. By emphasising the comedy, they underplay the malice. When the characters turn nasty, it seems more like eccentricity than something truly sinister. With another playwright, they might have pulled it off, but with Pinter, they miss the point.

TAG Theatre’s production of The Birthday Party can be seen at:
Monday 29 September 2003 at Corran Halls, Oban
Wednesday 1 October 2003 at Mill Theatre, Thurso
Friday 3 October 2003 at Ardross Hall, Ardross
Saturday 4 October 2003 at Universal Hall Arts Centre, Findhorn
Thursday 23 October 2003 at Pitlochry Festival Theatre

© Mark Fisher, 2003