The Homecoming
by Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter - The Homecoming
BBC Radio 3: Drama on 3
Broadcast: Sunday 18th March 2007 @ 8:00 p.m.
The brilliant dialogue, dark humour and air of menace of "The Homecoming" have long marked this out as one of Harold Pinter's finest
and most important works. This production marks the first time Pinter has played Max, the domineering father at the heart of the darkly
comic dysfunctional family play.
Set in a North London terrace, it centres on the suffocating relationships between tyrannical father Max, his sons, Lenny and Joey, and
his brother, Sam. After nine years out of touch, the bitter, all-male family unit is upset by the arrival of eldest son, Teddy, visiting from
America for the first time with his wife, Ruth. Apparently, Teddy is now a college professor in America - or is he? We're sure of nothing
as family conflicts, grudges, and frustrations are let loose in a welter of aggression and sexual frustration. Full of silences, banalities,
and cloaked mis-statements, here's an unhappy family circling the new woman in their midst.
Adapted for radio from Harold Pinter's 1965 play, "The Homecoming", first performed at the Aldwych Theatre, London, 3rd June 1965.
With Harold Pinter [Max (a Man of 70)], Samuel West [Lenny, Max's Son (a Man in his Early 30s)], Michael Gambon [Sam, Max's
Brother (a Man of 63)], James Alexandrou [Joey, Max's Youngest Son (a Man in his Middle 20s)], Rupert Graves [Teddy, Max's Eldest
Son (a Man in his Middle 30s)], and Gina McKee [Ruth, Teddy's Wife (a Woman in her Early 30s)].
Directed by Thea Sharrock
Produced by Martin Smith
100 min.
Jim
