British playwright Harold Pinter’s work evolved from traditional theater into journalism

British playwright Harold Pinter made his name in the middle of the 20th century with a series of biting social satires.

His plays were sarcastic and funny, lampooning the awkwardness and absurdity of British life. But towards the end of his career, the tone of Pinter’s plays began to change.

Arizona State University professor Dennis Russell has a new book out about Pinter’s transformation. It’s called “Harold Pinter, Fascism and Outrage."

Starting in the 1980s, Russell writes, Pinter saw governments around the world tilting towards authoritarianism. And he decided he had to do something.

Full conversation

RUSSELL: Against the backdrop of this rise of global fascism, Harold Pinter wrote this series of overt, graphically brutal, graphically realistic set of anti-fascism plays. And in my analysis, I, in part, found that it seemed like on stage he was engaging in what I referred to as an alternative dramaturgical form of journalism.

DINGMAN: Would you say that the realism that he pursued in these productions was perhaps augmented by the sort of surreal nature of actual political news and the culture that rises up around authoritarianism, where it starts to feel, in those contexts, like it's difficult to trust actual journalism sometimes. Or it's difficult to trust actual, you know, information coming from the media.

And so the idea of being more rigorous about realism in a fictional dramatization of events like this can perhaps counterintuitively feel more reliable.

RUSSELL: And that's precisely it, Sam. Pinter, in these plays, he's portraying reporters who are essentially silent and oblivious about the fascism that is taking place in their country. They're asking questions that lack meaning and lack empathy. And, essentially, Pinter is portraying the press as accomplices. And, in fact, Pinter became so disturbed about what he was hearing about fascism in other countries that he, in fact, went to various countries, such as Turkey. Where fascist regimes were using fascist techniques — brutal techniques — did his own research, interviewed political prisoners. Interviewed political activists who had been tortured. And then he came back to his home country of Britain so impacted by this research that it had dramatically altered his writing style.

His earlier plays like "The Room," "The Birthday Party," "The Dumbwaiter," "The Homecoming" — those earlier works were more psychological, metaphorical, styled plays. He came to the conclusion, "I can't write in this style anymore."

DINGMAN: Yeah, well, and it's so interesting, you know, you were describing his process in the example of Turkey, you used the word "research." But the specifics of what you described could also be characterized as reporting. You know, going to the place where something is happening, talking to sources on the ground, coming back and using what you've learned from those conversations to produce a piece of media that expresses the urgency of a situation.

And if you wouldn't mind, Dennis, I think it might be good to go to a specific example of what you're talking about here to give folks a sense of it. In the second chapter of your book, you write about how this manifests itself in the Pinter play "One for the Road."

RUSSELL: Yes, very much so. So "One for the Road," which is a play that he wrote in 1984, it contains four short, brutal scenes. And the setting for this play, "One for the Road," there's an interrogator in an unnamed fascist regime by the name of Nicholas. During the four scenes of this play, he is essentially tormenting an already tortured political prisoner, as well as tormenting his imprisoned wife and child.

[AUDIO FROM PLAY "ONE FOR THE ROAD"]

"What's the matter? What in heaven's name is the matter? You're probably just hungry or thirsty. Let me tell you something: I hate despair. I find it intolerable. The stink of it gets up my nose. It's a blemish. Despair. Old flute is a cancer. It should be castrated. Indeed, I've often found that that works."

RUSSELL: And the setting for this play, "One for the Road," it's simply a stark, antiseptic interrogation room. The prisoner's chair and the interrogator's desk, and it's just filled with dialogue. "One for the Road" is very emblematic of what a number of these other plays are like.

DINGMAN: As you were pointing out, Pinter's earlier works were much more absurdist comedies with a lot of wordplay and kind of, like, cultural satire.

[AUDIO FROM PLAY "THE BIRTHDAY PARTY]

MEG: What are you reading?
PETEY: Someone's just had a baby.
MEG: Oh, they haven't. Who?
PETEY: Some girl.
MEG: Oh, who, Petey? Who?
PETEY: I don't think you'd know her.
MEG: Well, what's her name?
PETEY: Lady Mary Splatt.
MEG: I don't know her.
PETEY: No.

RUSSELL: Absolutely. In fact, Pinter himself had remarked ... that these earlier plays of his were filled with psychological games and jokes. And then, when he came back from Turkey and some of these other countries, doing his firsthand research, he was quoted as saying, "I'm afraid that for me, the joke is over."

It's interesting that in reading various interviews with Pinter about these works, he mentioned it himself that earlier in his career, he had always been very suspect of what he might think of as maybe kind of a propaganda form of theater. And that he never himself wanted to engage in it. And he had an artistic and intellectual sea change in which he doesn't see these works as propagandistic.

He sees these as on stage displaying — at a very realistic, heightened level — the realities of what's taking place in fascist regimes.

DINGMAN: Yeah. I mean, the way we're talking about it, Dennis, it almost seems like he viewed these almost as documentary plays. With the notable and important difference that, you know, the actual events that he was depicting were imaginary.

RUSSELL: Absolutely. I mean, there's a strong documentary feel to these plays. And I argue, I ultimately argue in my book, Sam, that the fact overwhelms the fiction. I think Pinter was thinking that many, many people are just totally oblivious to the realities of fascism that are taking place on this planet, and that I think he saw these set of plays as serving as, at least, a consciousness raising.

So I think they're very valuable in that regard.

DINGMAN: Well, Dennis Russell is an associate professor at ASU's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications, and we've been talking about his new book, "Harold Pinter, Fascism and Outrage: Aesthetic and Moral Implications." Dennis, thank you for this conversation.

RUSSELL: Thanks so much for having me, Sam.