Stasis as structure in Pinter's 'No Man's Land'
ONE OF THE LEAST likely working dramatists one tends to think of in terms either of palpable surface artifice or deliberate literary borrowings is Harold Pinter, and yet his latest play, No Man's Land, reveals both of these characteristics, not only after study of the play in print but even in...
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| Published in: | Modern drama 1976-09, Vol.19 (3), p.291-304 |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | eng |
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| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | ONE OF THE LEAST likely working dramatists one tends to think of in terms either of palpable surface artifice or deliberate literary borrowings is Harold Pinter, and yet his latest play, No Man's Land, reveals both of these characteristics, not only after study of the play in print but even in the immediacy of a first viewing of the play in production. Whether or not the atypical visibility of these elements reflects an attempt by the playwright to make patently clear in the theatre his avowed interest in the structure or shape of a play, No Man's Land indeed emerges lobster-like, its skeleton on the outside with the flesh hidden deep within. Whereas the form of this play becomes apparent as it displays itself in production, the thematic content or "meaning" (a term I apply to Pinter with great trepidation) is seemingly as hard to extract as in most of his previous works. And yet, a close examination of the literary affinities and the formal characteristics may demonstrate that through its structure the meaning of No Man's Land is dramatized. In other words, the shape of the play is what it is about. |
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| ISSN: | 0026-7694 1712-5286 |