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Barbara Loots
Harold Pinter’s acclaimed one act play, THE DUMB WAITER, is currently dropping orders at the Masambe Theatre at the Baxter for a short run until 28 June 2024.
Harold Pinter’s THE DUMB WAITER is his answer to Samual Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, so it takes real guts to tackle it. The new kids on the theatre block, RemDog Productions, definitely announced their arrival with gusto in tackling this legendary play out of the gates. We need more fearless independent theatre makers of their ilk.
THE DUMB WAITER is renowned for being one of those plays that’s either a hit or a miss when staged, as it does not leave much room for error: All the theatrical elements must work together seamlessly to captivate an audience for 60 minutes, where nothing overtly dramatic appears to happen as you eavesdrop on an apparently casual conversation that carefully hides many layers.
In THE DUMB WAITER, we meet two hitmen, Ben and Gus. They are stuck in a basement, waiting on an assignment from their boss, Wilson, who is only referenced in passing. The third ‘character’, is the dumb waiter, a small goods lift, which was previously used to deliver and take food orders to and from the basement kitchen when there was an operational restaurant in the building they now find themselves in.
Ben is the senior of the two, a stoic, single-minded, professional who prides himself in staying on task and getting the job done as instructed, whatever the job may be. In contrast, Gus, the supposedly more submissive junior, has started questioning their criminal ways after a recent hit that involved a girl. He comes across as impatient and angsty; ready to just get on with it, but also questioning Wilson’s handling of them while making them wait. It is assumed that neither of them are clued in on who their latest target is until they get the ultimate go-ahead to execute a plan. Is everything as perfectly straightforward as it appears?
They wile away exchanging thoughts on mindless topics. Eventually Gus’ inability to wait quietly and keep himself occupied (with a snack and a cup of tea if such a thing could be organised) starts annoying Ben and triggers his outburst about everyday semantics. These being the only interruptions to his pondering of the daily paper. The mundanity of it all is unsettled a bit when order notes start popping down to their basement hideout by means of the dumb waiter.
The play lives somewhere between realism and absurdism within that mundane setting. This is also where so many productions fall short in the staging, as the mundanity can overpower the play if not properly balanced with the quintessential Pinter-pauses that are riddled throughout the play.
A Pinter-pause is a device used in his plays to show the natural interruptions that occur in conversations, while also highlighting the discomforts such can bring about: That moment when you’re looking for just the right word, or weighing up how to respond to a topic you're unsure of, or how to react to someone who makes you feel uneasy. Sometimes a pause can speak volumes and Pinter allows these to prattle away properly. It creates vitality and tension when a play requires a shift in the everyday tone.
In THE DUMB WAITER there needs to be a rhythmic balance between spoken word and the measured pauses, to allow for the conversation to become progressively more strained and anxiety driven. It should turn into a tug-of-war between tone and tension, making you question what is real and what is a lie. Is there someone else in the building? Who is the target? Why are they waiting so long? Are they both waiting for the same thing? If that balance is out, you are left with little else but a hurry-up-and-wait play.
On opening night of this latest staging, the theatrical gremlins sadly took a swipe at this production, with the lighting rig leaving the actors on a rather more dimly lit stage than anticipated, at moments oscillating between that and sharply contrasting house lights. I suspect these technical snafus may have thrown the pacing and energy of the performances off-kilter.
Jock Kleynhans as Gus brings much depth to his character. He leans into the nervous energy of Gus as someone who is impatient and bored, just wishing for something to happen already; someone perhaps looking for an out, on the verge of adjusting his moral compass but not knowing how to approach that. Kleynhans convincingly keeps that energy up throughout and plays into the confusion of the absurd situation the duo find themselves in.
Brent Palmer’s portrayal of Ben is sensible and delivered with a well-maintained British accent, but there is something missing. His approach feels too restrained, whereas Ben needs to convey an undertone of subtle malice that would urge you to question his (re)actions at key moments; an undertone that would emphasise the required suspense. While Palmer’s Ben does the job it doesn’t push the character far enough for one to believe that Gus would truly flinch at Ben’s abrupt outbursts. Ben, here, doesn’t lure the audience in enough for them to question his intent.
Because of this, it doesn’t always feel as if the characters in this production are reaching their full potential. They don’t play off each other’s energy in equal measure. The fact that their rapport lacks a sense of purpose at times is perhaps the biggest casualty of the technical glitch right at the start of the play. If this is addressed, it will go a good measure in allowing the show to reach its full potential. My suspicion is that the production will come into its own as the run progresses.
Even with the issues in pacing and the technical stumbles, the performers still got some laughs and giggles from the audience on the night, so not all was lost.
The set gives the right aesthetic feel of a basement setting and serves the story to a certain degree, but it needs some tweaks. The walls need to be sturdier for one: Every time a door opens or closes it leaves walls swaying, with a prayer to the theatre gods that nothing topples over. This prevents you from fully immersing yourself in Gus and Ben’s exchanges when keeping one eye on the scenic elements just in case. The set design also falls prey to the trap of creating a room/setting without due regard to the sightlines of a particular theatre space. There’s a point in the play where a mysterious letter gets shoved underneath a door, stage left, closest to the audience. You will only see that quick trick happen if you are seated in the first two rows. Perhaps if that door was positioned upstage and centered, more of the audience would be able to partake in that rather important moment of tense confusion that flows from the letter’s reveal. Small considerations could have a big impact in the ultimate way an audience experiences a production.
I can see and appreciate what Aidan Scott is trying to do here with his directorial debut. I applaud his respect for the text, but wishes he pushed it even further on that front by pairing back some of the overt acting tricks that shows off effort rather than simply allowing the ease of a portrayal to speak for itself. The latter would allow Ben and Gus to duke it out with the words and pacing to full Pinter effect.
This being RemDog Production’s first professional offering, I am certain that the young talent behind it will only grow with and through this production. This staging of THE DUMB WAITER has all the right bones, it just needs to settle a bit.
You have until 28 June 2024 to see this gutsy staging of THE DUMB WAITER at the Baxter Theatre’s Masambe. Tickets are available for booking online through Webtickets.