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Drama since 1945<br />

459<br />

of what is said and not said. His characters do not have the capacity,<br />

that Beckett’s characters have, to fill their time with memories, chat,<br />

tortured reflections. They are much less self-sufficient and more<br />

dependent on the unstable ties that bind them to each other.<br />

The Caretaker (1960) and The Homecoming (1965) are full-length<br />

plays of menace, ambiguity and unfulfilled ambitions. Like Beckett,<br />

Pinter has developed the one-act play into a major theatrical form.<br />

The Dumb Waiter (1957), about two characters, Gus and Ben, whose<br />

situation is more and more threatened by the machinery of the title,<br />

was one of the plays which established Pinter’s name. The year 1969<br />

saw the first production of Silence, arguably his most fully realised<br />

and innovative work, in which three characters rehearse their<br />

interlinked memories without ever relating directly to each other. Their<br />

words resemble a kind of musical fugue, in which silence becomes –<br />

ever more clearly – the dominant presence.<br />

[ELLEN moves to RUMSEY.]<br />

ELLEN It’s changed. You’ve painted it. You’ve made shelves.<br />

Everything. It’s beautiful.<br />

RUMSEY Can you remember . . . when you were here last?<br />

ELLEN Oh yes.<br />

RUMSEY You were a little girl.<br />

ELLEN I was.<br />

[Pause.]<br />

RUMSEY Can you cook now?<br />

ELLEN Shall I cook for you?<br />

RUMSEY Yes.<br />

ELLEN Next time I come. I will.<br />

[Pause.]<br />

RUMSEY Do you like music?<br />

ELLEN Yes.<br />

RUMSEY I’ll play you music.<br />

[Pause.]<br />

RUMSEY Look at your reflection.<br />

ELLEN Where?<br />

RUMSEY In the window.

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