“The Birthday Party” reviewed by Julia W. Rath

[rating=4]David Fink excels in the role of Stanley in Harold Pinter’s “The Birthday Party”, a 1957 story dealing with the effects of psychological torture and mind control. Throughout  the performance, Fink channels Stanley to a “T”, having him act strangely and borderline autistic. Stanley has lived for about one year at Meg’s boarding house, owned and operated by Meg Bowles (Elaine Carlson) and her husband Petey (Linsey Falls). The boarding house is largely empty, but Meg finds herself expecting two new guests: Goldberg (James Sparling) and McCann (Will Casey), both of whom are apparently are already acquainted with Stanley… and for that matter, Petey as well.

A birthday party is supposedly a happy occasion, but it may or may not be Stanley’s (real) birthday. No matter! The new guests want to celebrate it anyway. The frivolity of having a party and a cake and all that goes along with it is apparently on the agenda. The party is something which Meg is looking forward to, even if she cannot seem to remember the question she has just asked or recall the answer being given. Petey, in contrast, is a man of few words, who prefers to make himself scarce, whether it has to do with playing chess with his buddies away from home or hiding behind his newspaper.

It is when the lights are turned off during the course of the birthday party that a sense of dread envelops us. The interrogation of Stanley under the guise of having fun is creepy, and this party in his honor thus becomes a means of deliberately toying with his emotions. By tearing down his personality and creating conflicting feelings within him, Goldberg and McMann relish in how upsetting the situation makes Stanley feel. While the audience has no access to what is truly in the man’s mind, we can see the distressed look on Stanley’s face and the extent to which he crouches and looks uncomfortable, as he possibly recalls memories of some past horror. The child’s drum, initially representing fun and frolic—once broken—becomes analogous to Stanley’s shattered spirit.

I cannot emphasize, once again, how outstanding Fink’s performance is as Stanley! Especially amazing is how he turns his face bright red to simulate being choked near the end of the performance. In contrast, Goldberg and McCann spark delight in Meg’s heart. With her husband temporarily out of the house, Meg’s joyfulness grows as she engages with the superficial side of both. She flirts with the two men, who seem borderline lecherous. Another guest at the birthday party is Lulu (Sahara Glasener-Boles), who is the recipient of some of their sexual advances.

What is brilliant about Pinter’s portrayal of the characters is how well he can make each of them express different sides of their personality at once, depending on who is interacting with them. We notice how they are each strange in their own way, with their interactions only accentuating their eccentricities. But it is their unrevealed histories that creates the sense of fear and dread in the audience. It is interesting to watch how Goldberg and McCann are skillfully two-faced: harboring some type of terrible secret between them—often in front of Stanley—and then acting totally pleasant and nonplussed when associating with the others.

The casting in this show is excellent. Fink is quite short as compared to the exceedingly big and tall Casey: a contrast that works wonderfully! Sparling is the type of actor who can switch gears on a dime: beguiling and loquacious on one hand and ruthless the next, and later he shows the effects of the psychological torture on him as well… in not remembering which of his three first names is the “correct” one. Carlson beautifully plays Meg with her seeming forgetfulness. She is either totally unaware of the larger purpose behind the visit of these two men—or she herself may have been the recipient of psychological brutality that has been neatly forgotten. We can only guess.

Ray Toler’s set design is nicely done for such a small stage. Lighting design by Stefan Brun is right on target. Jennifer Susan’s costumes are proper for the era. Fight and intimacy designer Alison Dornheggen has created just the right nuance in terms of the physical interaction among the characters. We must be especially grateful to Carrie Hardin for her fine work as a dialect coach in this production and making sure that the various English and Irish accents befit the characters.

This production, astutely directed by Terry McCabe, is tragic and comedic at the same time: funnier towards the beginning and sadder towards the end. Goldberg and McCann appear to be under some type of secret influence, and there are occasional references to Monty, who apparently is (or pretends to be) a doctor, presumably involved with psychological torture: perhaps a series of electroshock treatments and hypnosis as a means for taking over a person’s mind. Petey is probably the most sane and reasonable of the characters, but he also seems to possess some type of secret knowledge. It appears that at some earlier point in time, someone (and we don’t know who) believed that Stanley needed to be “cared for” as a permanent boarding house resident. Although we never know exactly why he was once looked after and why his situation has now changed, we realize that his safety is no longer assured. When Stanley’s life, liberty, and personality are now being threatened, the audience doesn’t know what will happen to him next. But we can all acknowledge that his fate is not a good one when he’s being ferried off.

“The Birthday Party” is playing through February 26, 2023, at the City Lit Theater, on the second floor of the Edgewater Presbyterian Church, 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Avenue, in Chicago.

General admission tickets are $34
Seniors – $29
Students and military – $12

Performance schedule:

Fridays and Saturdays – 7:30 p.m.
Sundays – 3:00 p.m.
Additional performances: Monday, February 13 and 20 – 7:30 p.m.

For additional information and to purchase tickets, go to: https://www.citylit.org/.

Current COVID-19 Protocol: “We understand not everyone is comfortable being in a crowd without masks yet, so City Lit still requires masks for our Sunday matinee performances. Masks are encouraged but no longer required for Friday, Saturday and our 2 Monday performances. City Lit staff will continue to mask for all performances. If you have already made a reservation and because of this information you’d like to switch performances, please let us know and we’d be happy to reschedule you.”

To see what others are saying, visit www.theatreinchicago.com, go to Review Round-Up and click at “The Birthday party”.