Bright sparks in the dark
YOU’LL be able to cut the air with a blunt spoon next week when Hobart’s Bad Company Theatre presents its first independent production, The Dumb Waiter, a taut and tense thriller by Harold Pinter.
The Dumb Waiter follows colleagues Gus and Ben, who are sitting in a dank, dark basement, waiting for their next job. They’ve been working together for quite some time, and have developed an efficient routine.
But there’s something different about this job. Increasingly bizarre orders start coming down to them via the basement’s dumb waiter, challenging them to seek out meaning, confront injustice and assert their power.
The tension between the two men builds, as it soon becomes clear that things are not quite what they seem.
One of British playwright Pinter’s most famous works, The Dumb Waiter is a darkly funny and suspenseful short play that explores human nature and the way in which individuals can be complicit in society’s darker impulses.
The Dumb Waiter stars Bad Company founder Tai Gardner as Gus, alongside James Casey — who has recently returned from New York — as Ben.
Director CJ Bowers has previously directed productions of Pinter’s oneact plays The New World Order and Precisely, and is thrilled to now be bringing The Dumb Waiter to the stage.
“Pinter’s work is so often characterised by a bleak, almost nihilistic, view of the world, yet it also manages to be both hilarious and insightful,” Bowers says.
“It’s a great challenge for two actors to balance those shades of light and dark.”
Bad Company Theatre presents The Dumb Waiter in the Theatre Royal Backspace at 8pm nightly from October 11-14. Tickets are $25, $20 concession and students.
For bookings phone 6233 2299 or go to www.theatreroyal.com.au