The Vancouver Plank Panel look into pinter's briefs

Your Plank Panel who never puase:
Ingrid Nilson, who is a Jill (or Jack if you need) of all trades
Sean Tyson, who is thankful he can still feel.

Ingrid
To search for answers, piece together clues and try desperately to tie loose ends together sounds like a detective's task. But in the case of Pinter's Briefs, the spectator becomes the quizzical investigator into the events (or lack thereof), which have come to pass on-stage. After the cobbled-together collection of six short theatre pieces and the iconic one-act play The Dumb Waiter, which together make up the evening Blackbird Theatre called Pinter’s Briefs, we are left with a lot more questions than answers. What just happened?

Accompanying the significant head scratching that occurs upon witnessing the weird wonders of Nobel Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter's work is laughter and lots of it.  My enjoyment came from moments both small and lavishly large: from ridiculous terms like "brass petcock" in the dialogue-chocked first vignette, Trouble in the Works, to the precise portrayal of two elderly English soup-sipping ladies in The Black and White. The two terrific talents, Anthony F. Ingram and Simon Webb, deliver delightfully painful, high-tension humour in their carefully considered (and often cross-gendered) characterizations. An apt example is from Applicant, where a female interviewer clad in frumpy garb (Ingram) gets off torturing, teasing and terrifying a brittle-nerved job aspirant (Webb). While the job the applicant is after isn’t made clear, what is clear is the pleasure the audience has at his expense.

Despite the intentionally imposed uncertainty of the scripts, one thing is for sure: the performances are indeed "polished to perfection", as promised by Vancouver's much-acclaimed Blackbird Theatre. The actors’ skill, comedy and absurdity are happily married in this first half of the show. Also wed in a beautiful balance are the production's technical elements - the costumes and set add further sheen to the polish.

The story telling doesn’t necessarily go anywhere quickly or logically, a fact made more apparent by the length of the second half. During The Dumb Waiter, I must admit that I squirmed as my problem-solving skills and my patience were tested (I predict this was part of Pinter’s plan). I kept thinking the show would be useful for people with anger management issues – you have no choice but to put aside your ego sit in silence pondering the purpose of the famous Pinter pause…  

The Dumb Waiter is an engaging but drawn out interaction between two professional hit men, I wanted something badly but didn't know what. A coherent conclusion? Comfort? Mostly, I wanted to escape the sensation of being trapped in a dark, mysterious basement and forced to wait there in suspense.  My fellow Plank panelist called this sensation "empathy". I was skeptical at his choice of words, as I believed empathy meant I felt sorry for the murderers, which I didn't. With the help of his i-phone (technology these days!?), the definition was elucidated: "by means of empathy, a great painting (or piece of theatre) becomes a mirror of the self." And I did see me in these men as I simultaneously endured the restless waiting, a stamina and sanity prodding procedure that is apparently part of Pinter’s peculiar plan.  

Tyson
Ah….  Empathy. What a wonderful occurrence. Given that one is sitting down for an evening of Pinter, it is expected and hoped for. Will the production achieve that delicate balance of honesty and brutality that will let the characters and their stories affect us?  As my colleague has already demonstrated: yes.  The high production values and simple design choices set a wonderful stage for two superbly talented actors to create the bridge of empathy that is inherent in Pinter’s work.

I thought longer about the “cobbled together” first half of Blackbird’s evening and in actuality, it held a very intelligent structure. First we are introduced to a language of ‘non-sense’ that gets us laughing quickly and freely. Then each subsequent piece informs us a little more as to the style of theatre where Pinter dwells. As a bonus, between scenes, the actors transform into new characters before our very eyes, using costumes that are hung off coat racks on opposing sides of the stage. Witnessing the ‘frumpy female interviewer’ transform into a taxi dispatcher driven to his wits end, and the ‘aspirant’ of the  ‘Applicant’ become a love-struck cabbie lost in his languor, we enter the final short and are introduced to another element of Pinter’s work, perhaps his most famous device: the Pause.

So going into intermission we have been introduced to the components of ‘absurdist theatre’ we will need to understand and enjoy the “iconic” one act, The Dumb Waiter. Upon re-entering the space we are presented with a dingy basement unit in Birmingham that must have been there all along, and the two characters we meet are wiling away the time with no expectations that we would be dropping by to observe.  Indeed, even though Gus (Webb) listens through the wall for us, the only other presence they can determine must be “Him”, who is upstairs, on the other end of the namesake dumbwaiter, or in the hallway. Or just somewhere; waiting to get in touch with them. It is through this waiting that the audience steps inside the unit and everything gets a little claustrophobic.

So here we are, all stuck in the same little world together: a group of human beings waiting for something to happen. Perhaps some of ‘us’ have questions, perhaps some, have answers. Perhaps these two characters are here to learn from each other or perchance they are at cross-purposes. Will these questions be answered during the course of the play? You will have to decide that for yourself. And here is where Pinter’s Briefs succeeds: The audience is transported to another world, and from this new perspective we are given a chance to gain lucidity on the absurdity of self. We, as human beings, must ask questions of life and the world around us. We must each decide if we want to know those answers. Will this play make us better human beings? Make your own decision after you watch it; but one thing is for certain, if you are conscious, you will probably experience a great tool for change: empathy. In this day and age, it is something we need.

So if you know of Pinter, or would like an introduction through some great works, you should see this production. Either way, you will have a great night at the theatre. We did.

Pinter's Briefs, Comic Classics by Harold Pinter; Director - John Wright; featuring Simon Webb and Anthony F. Ingram, at Studio 16 in Vancouver until 16 October.