He’s married to a dame, but will Harold Pinter succeed in being knighted before his death? Personally, I can think of no greater figure in British theatre of the last 40 years (of course his only competitors are hacks like Peter Shaeffer), and I think he deserves such an honor. I wonder, however, if his political plays of the last 15 years (such as Party Time) have essentially negated any chance he would have at getting recognition from both the upper class and the government.
UnuMondo
Well, if it weren’t for his political leanings, who is he expecting to propose knighthood? While his plays are indeed great works of threater, most people, including me, can’t stand them.
Maybe it’s a good job you weren’t on the committee to decide it then, Sparticus, because Harold Pinter was made a Companion of Honour in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list this year. If ever there was someone who could be depended on to shun the corrupted system of honours we have over here it should have been him (he had previously refused a knighthood under John Major’s government) but he had also previously accepted a CBE.
From this article comes his explanation for accepting the CH having turned down a knighthood:
I wouldn’t have begrudeged him an honor (or even an honour), as his playwriting is very good, but his work really, really isn’t my cup of tea. I’m more of a popular culture kinda guy. It probably is a good thing that someone like me isn’t on the committee.
And what is your personal reason for not being able to stand them? And which plays specifically have you read or seen performed. Like all artists, Pinter has gone through various stages (of how he handles his themes, the themes themself have remained more or less the same).
UnuMondo
I’ve seen The Caretaker and The Dumb Waiter. It’s been twenty years or so. The were thorougly painful emotionally and without anything redemptive or uplifting. I found them quite misanthropic. While I will readily concede that this is what they set out to do and that they are probably the great art people say they are, it’s not the way I would ever choose again to spend an evening.
Well, Shakespeare’s did a lot of depressing people, too. Did you ever read or see Hamlet? At least he’s got the occasionally uplifting poetry, which works like a 16th century equivalent of the song-and-dance number.
But you’re right, Pinter is not concerned with making the audience feel good while he’s making his points. His short play The New World Order is one of my favourites, but I’m sure I’d feel pretty awful after seeing it performed.
UnuMondo
I was lucky enough to meet Harold Pinter when A New World Order first opened at the theatre where I was studying acting. During a Q&A session with the students someone asked him what the true meaning of the “Pinter Pause*” was. He looked over the sunglasses he was wearing and said:
“That’s … just … how … people … talk.”
No buddy, that’s just how you talk.
He was incredible but he didn’t come across as the kind of guy that wanted his audience falling about laughing.
A New World Order was good but I prefer The Caretaker. Colin Firth was fantastic in it.
*Pinter Pause= A device in many of Pinter’s plays where a character will deliver a line with long pauses between the words for emphasis.
No he isn’t. His wife is ‘Lady’ Antonia Fraser because she is the daughter of an earl, Lord Longford. Actually, it’s a bit more complicated than that. Strictly speaking she has three ‘correct’ versions of her name, none of which is the one she uses - Antonia, Lady Fraser (her first husband was a baronet), Lady Antonia Pinter or, if she had retained her maiden name for professional purposes, Lady Antonia Pakenham. ‘Lady Antonia Fraser’ is really just a literary brandname. Note that none of the titles are ones which she has earned herself and it would be more accurate to wonder why she hasn’t been honoured. I have it on good authority that she has taken to using the name Lady Antonia Pinter-Fraser in private.
Pinter’s decision to refuse a knighthood but to accept a CH is just a variation on the old idea that titles are wrong but other honours are acceptable. The CH exists partly in order to cater for those with such scruples.
That’s for the explanation APB, I was unaware of her heritage and believed she picked up the title somewhere along the way for her work as a popular historian.
UnuMondo