Set in 1960’s North London, The Homecoming sees Teddy, a professor of philosophy, and Ruth, his wife, return from America to find an ongoing struggle for power between Teddy’s father Max, his brothers Lenny and Joey and Teddy’s Uncle Sam. As these relationships come to conflict, the struggle for dominance sees the characters battle to challenge and manipulate each other, building a warring and at times, chilling family portrait.
Harold Pinter’s play written in 1964, still resonates today. Pinter described it as his most "muscular" play. Often considered to be highly ambiguous and enigmatic, it raises questions about family values and the meaning of love or the misdirection of love, exposing issues of sex and power. |
Set in an enclosed space with unpredictable dialogue, it displays the conflict of a family at the mercy of each other in their own self-appointed reduced and controlled existence. There is an ambiguity and puzzling uncertainty about them with questions deliberately unanswered, which we explored in rehearsal as well as the themes of sexual politics and power. The actors have enjoyed analysing the battles, the games, the hostility and the weaponry that these characters use upon each other.
The controversial portrayal of Ruth, which at the original production in 1964, caused waves of objections sits in the heart of this story. Was this liberation at its most raw state? Can we accept that Ruth’s struggle for love and identity may collide with the expected conformist role of woman in society? |
"Take a long cool sip"