Dumb Waiter - Review by Rosemary Westwell
- Pinter’s play Dumb Waiter produced a very high standard of intense drama. Two fine actors: Nick Chapman (Gus) and Mike Walters (Ben) lead us inextricably through a gradually developing plot that was both puzzling and intriguing. The success of the play relied heavily on the tremendous skill of the actors, especially the Tony Hancock-like precise timing of Gus’s irritating inane chatter. Just as his boss, Ben, settled down calmly to read the paper while waiting for a mysterious man to come, Gus would pause and say yet again “I was just wondering..” in that familiar tone of a bored child that so easily irritates the listener. The tension gradually developed between the actors until even the tiniest detail of language use flared their rising emotional intensity. The puzzling arrival of an envelope of matches and requests for meals from the dumb waiter gave more for Gus to wonder about and increased the insecurity of the two men who were eventually revealed to be hit men waiting for their target. The surprising ending added more impact to this splendidly developed play: an unforgettable, enthralling experience.
-
- Dumb Waiter was complemented by a performance of Roald Dahl's witty take on fairy tales: Revolting Rhymes, a showcase for the deliciously irreverent black humour of the author. Tales such as Snow White, Jack and the Beanstalk, Goldilocks, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and the Three Little Pigs were retold with delightfully macabre twists. The presenters dramatized the telling with entertaining vocal variation, grandiose gestures and amazingly flexible facial expressions. The cast members were Robert Bush, Jess Garrett, Lyndsey Goddard, Elver Langley, James Lendrem and Elizabeth Pinder-Ashenden.
