Being Harold Pinter
7th November 2006
Being Harold Pinter interweaves extracts of the Nobel Prize-winning playwright’s lifetime of writings with testimonies from Belarusian political prisoners in a blazingly original theatrical staging.
“When we look at ourselves in a mirror, it seems that the image which appears in front of us is true. But it is enough to move just an inch to the side and the image will change. Actually we are looking at an endless line of images. But sometimes an artist must break the mirror, and from behind this mirror there is truth looking straight at us”.
Blurring the line between art and reality, Being Harold Pinter traces the relationship between power and violence in Pinter’s words – drawn from five plays as well as his Nobel speech – to deliver a poignant commentary on institutionalised brutality, freedom and human dignity. First performed in Leeds (UK) in 2007, it has since become one of BFT’s most publicly and critically acclaimed works.
Watch a clip of Being Harold Pinter here:https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03bcpyk
GALLERY
“It’s an extraordinary event that not only illustrates Pinter’s career-long denunciation of political terror, but proves that poor theatre can often deliver the richest dramatic experience”
The Guardian, 16 April 2007