A new production of Pinter's 'The Homecoming' fails to sizzle

A new production of The Homecoming, the 1965 play by Harold Pinter, is currently touring to good reviews (for example see The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph). Having watched it, I was left wondering where the motivation to make a new production for this specific play came from. Surely the director Julian Glover had a reason for getting the show back on the road again, but it is not drawn out. Several reviews have suggested that the play is increasingly relevant in the time of #metoo, but I must confess I thought the opposite.

Let's start with the positives. The set by Liz Ascroft is great! It's dark and haunting, with stairs that head off into the heavens, just like in a nightmare. The subtle hint of horror is amplified by the clever use of strobe shots to light the posed characters in between scenes. Mathew Horne plays Lenny with an engagingly affected insouciance and is the stand-out actor for me, a high achievement in a quality cast. The biggest star is Keith Allen who plays the patriarch Max, the old butcher, and he gives it his all, even if his talents are somewhat miscast.

Generally the production is tight, but I want to return to the question as to its relevance today as opposed to the 1960s, when it came out. Pinter I think was mainly being a shockjock, jolting the audience into a reaction by setting up unreal situations such as Teddy (Sam Alexander) looking on blankly as his wife Ruth (Shanay Rafaat) hooks up with not just one but both of his brothers, or Max being polite one second then ranting and raving the next. That's the theatre of the absurd, but it honestly feels rather dated now to be confronted with exhibitions of toxic masculinity, in a time when we talk about little else.

Yes, of course it does still exist and it has not been eradicated unfortunately but a play set in one room with five male characters and just one female, who is framed as the exotic temptation, does not go very far in adding to a conversation that is already everywhere in the 2020s. That's not to say Pinter's dialogue cannot still sting and the mood swings of Max and Lenny both continue to frighten. But what more than that?

If the play is to be of interest nowadays, then why not update and recontextualize it? For instance, why not have Black Lives Matter on the television and recents sexism scandals referred to? Or why not flip the genders? If we had a family of five women attempting to terrorize a man it could get provocative. Or indeed why not ham it up completely because the overwrought ending could certainly be played for laughs: the death of poor Sam (Ian Bartholomew) is already pure comedy, it engendered confused chuckles at the performance I saw, as did the rather stilted violence earlier on. Then Max keeling over soon after Sam could have been hilarious, especially with Allen involved; he is a consummate comic actor after all. Further, why not have them all die? The sky can be the limit unless we want to rever Pinter forever just the way he is/was.

All in all it was great to be back in the theatre in Bath as we move out of the Covid-19 times and I do wish the play success as it tours. I just feel that a new version could have revitalized and reenergised the play, and instead this production felt rather bland and by the book. If a master like Pinter is to stay relevant and not become a dated caricature, his works need updating. An opportunity has been missed here.