Auditions are open to ABAC faculty, staff, and students as well as everyone in the Tiftarea. No previous experience in theatre is necessary. Four men, two women, and several technicians are needed for the production
Pinter's first full-length play, "The Birthday Party" is at once dark and menacing as well as hilariously funny. The challenging three-act play centers on the inhabitants of a rundown seaside resort house. Stanley is a man with a strange and vague past who is salaciously mothered by Meg, the owner of the house. Two men appear from nowhere to interrogate and terrorize Stanley for reasons unknown. A local girl, Lulu, adds her own seductive spark to the proceedings.
The play is for a mature audience, and it deals with themes of random menace and the unknown in our everyday lives. It offers more questions than answers, and some critics have acknowledged the play's hilarity. "The Birthday Party" offers something for everyone, but it is generally for theatregoers of high school age or above. The play will be presented Nov. 7 - 9 at 7:30 p.m. in Room 319 in Conger Hall on the ABAC campus.
Dr. John Galyean, ABAC's Director of Theatre and the Baldwin Players, said "for the past year, we as Americans have had to address the fact that our lives are by and large uncertain and threatened.
"The dread of the unknown has plagued us. There are resonances of these threats in 'The Birthday Party,' and they make for fascinating and thrilling theatre. I am not celebrating the darker aspects of our paranoia--I am merely acknowledging their existence. They excite controversy and create a dramatic tension unique to Pinter. The juxtaposition of stark realism with metaphysical occurrences create a definite power in the script."
Pinter is known as the master of post-WWII British theatre. The perplexing "pauses" in his scripts are as well known as his ear for dead-on, naturalistic dialogue and realistic settings, harshly placed against dreamlike and grotesque happenings.
For additional information, contact Galyean on campus at (229) 386 - 3099.
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