A Pinter Pause
by David Finkle
[ people - january 09 ]
Introduction
(Perhaps because Harold Pinter is considered a seminal dramatist - although admittedly influenced by Samuel Beckett, for one - the autobiographical nature of his writing that might be assumed and studied in others is often overlooked. The self-referential ingredients of Betrayal are acknowledged because they have become too public to be denied, but most of Pinter’s other manuscripts remain unexamined for their origins in what is known of his private life. The following is this author’s notion of a play Pinter might have composed from sometimes sketchily reported personal experiences but never got around to - and, as of his sad death in December 2008, now never will.)
A mid-afternoon in spring. A one-room flat in Hampstead that could be called a bed-sit. The room is pleasant but meagerly furnished - a few chairs, an unmade bed with a down-turned open book on it, a table near an upstage door. The constantly shifting bright light through the window suggests a southern exposure.
Two men sit facing each other on two of the worn chairs. One is older than the other. OLDER MAN is dressed in a suit and tie. YOUNGER MAN wears a shapeless shirt and trousers and a cap pulled down so that his eyes are partially obscured. OLDER MAN and YOUNGER MAN regard each other for a time before OLDER MAN speaks. The initial silence may extend for as many as three or four minutes, during which the men do no more than rearrange themselves on their chairs.
OLDER MAN
You’re all right, then.
Pause
YOUNGER MAN
Yes.
Pause
OLDER MAN
I’m glad to hear it.
Pause
Do you need money?
Pause
YOUNGER MAN
No.
Pause
OLDER MAN
You’re quite certain.
Pause
YOUNGER MAN
I’m quite certain.
OLDER MAN
You need nothing?
Slight pause
YOUNGER MAN
I didn’t say that. I said I have no need of money from you.
Silence
OLDER MAN rises from his chair and goes to the window, looks out for a few seconds, turns.
OLDER MAN
What do you need?
Pause
YOUNGER MAN
Nothing you can give me. Now. You can relax.
Pause
OLDER MAN returns to his chair, sits.
Pause
OLDER MAN
Your job. You like it.
YOUNGER MAN
I don’t like it or dislike it.
Pause
That is to say, there is no job to like or dislike. I’ve been made redundant.
OLDER MAN
I’ve forgotten what you were doing?
Pause
YOUNGER MAN
Since I’m no longer doing it, it doesn’t matter what I was doing.
Pause
I was a night watchman at a textile factory in Wapping.
Pause
OLDER MAN
Your mother sends her best regards.
YOUNGER MAN
As you’ve already said.
Pause
"Best regards." This is the first time I’ve ever been aware she holds me in any regard whatsoever.
Pause
As I recall, she never held me at all.
OLDER MAN
That’s not true.
YOUNGER MAN
It may not be your truth. It is mine.
Pause
YOUNGER MAN rises, walks to upstage door, enters, closes it behind him. OLDER MAN rises, goes to bed, picks up the open book, checks cover, has no reaction, puts it back, returns to his chair, sits.
Silence
The sound of a toilet flushing. YOUNGER MAN reenters, returns to his chair, sits, pulls a pocket knife from his trousers and begins cleaning his fingernails. OLDER MAN observes the activity but doesn’t comment.
OLDER MAN
You’re quite all right, then.
Pause
YOUNGER MAN
I said I’m quite all right.
Pause
OLDER MAN rises again, returns to the window, gazes out. YOUNGER MAN points knife at OLDER MAN for a long moment, returns to nail-cleaning.
OLDER MAN
The view is lovely.
Pause
YOUNGER MAN
Is it?
Pause
I’ve never noticed.
Pause
OLDER MAN
Quite lovely.
Pause
YOUNGER MAN
(Wryly.) I must remember to look at it. The view.
OLDER MAN
When you were a child, you used to spend hours at the window.
Pause
YOUNGER MAN
Did I?
Pause
Perhaps that’s why I pay no attention to the window now. I’ve put in my window time.
OLDER MAN is still at the window but facing in.
OLDER MAN
YOUNGER MAN
(With sarcasm.) So soon.
OLDER MAN remains at the window. YOUNGER MAN, while still holding the pocket knife, looks at his shoes, pulls up his left sock, then his right sock. OLDER MAN moves towards the door, stops at the table near the door, removes a wallet from his breast pocket, extracts several bills, puts them on the table. YOUNGER MAN watches without changing expression.
YOUNGER MAN
This week’s royalties?
OLDER MAN doesn’t respond, proceeds to the door, opens it, turns back.
OLDER MAN
I’m off, then.
YOUNGER MAN
Yes. I see you are.
Pause
OLDER MAN hesitates, indicates fleetingly that he might approach YOUNGER MAN, who all but imperceptibly flinches, raises knife. OLDER MAN stops.
OLDER MAN
Well, then. I’m off.
Pause
I’ll tell your mother you say hello.
YOUNGER MAN
In that case, hello. There. I’ve said it. Once again you won’t have failed to tell the truth. Your truth.
Pause
OLDER MAN exits, closes door behind him. YOUNGER MAN sits, rises while continuing to hold pocket knife, goes to the table, looks at the bills, picks them up, studies them, raises them to his nose, sniffs, replaces them, fixes them to the table with the pocket knife, removes cap exposing fully shaved scalp, moves to the window, gazes out as the light slowly dies.
