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Podcast: Today In History with The Retrospectors
Episode: Harold Pinter vs The Critics
Description: Nobel Prize-winning dramatist Harold Pinter's London premiere of his debut, ‘The Birthday Play’ was detested by most critics - on 19th May, 1958.
Set in a mundane seaside boarding house, the play initially lures audiences in with a naturalistic facade, before plunging them into a perplexing, uncomfortable narrative. Critics lambasted the production for its nonsensical dialogue and lack of clarity; lines of attack which were not eased by Pinter's lifelong refusal to offer explanations. The sole exception was a positive review from The Sunday Times’s Harold Hobson - but this was printed after the show h...