Derbyshire, Henry ORCID: 0000-0002-1373-1166 (2019) The Theatre of the Absurd as professional network in Pinter’s early career. Harold Pinter: Stages, Networks, Collaborations. Methuen Drama Engage . Bloomsbury. (Submitted)

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Abstract

As is well-known, Harold Pinter’s work first gained widespread attention in connection with Martin Esslin’s critical construct ‘the Theatre of the Absurd’; over time this contextualisation was contested, not least by the playwright himself, and gradually it was superseded by others. This chapter considers how far affiliation to the nascent Theatre of the Absurd provided access to an enabling network in the early days of Pinter’s career, through associations with practitioners and commentators including Harold Hobson, Barbara Bray, Peter Hall and Samuel Beckett. It is argued that these connections provide stronger grounds to consider the Theatre of the Absurd as a collective project than have usually been thought to exist. The chapter also includes consideration of Pinter's attempts to distance himself from the Absurd when the connection became actively unhelpful.

Item Type:	Book Section
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Harold Pinter, Theatre of the Absurd
Subjects:	P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN2000 Dramatic representation. The Theater
Faculty / Department / Research Group:	Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences > Department of Literature, Language & Theatre Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences > Literature & Drama Research Group
Last Modified:	27 Oct 2020 16:09
Selected for GREAT 2016:	None
Selected for GREAT 2017:	None
Selected for GREAT 2018:	None
Selected for GREAT 2019:	None
Selected for REF2021:	None
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/24040

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