The Hothouse (2007)
Directed by Naomi Liddle
Performances: Wednesday 24th – Saturday 27th January 2007, Prompt Corner
Contents
Introduction
Sometimes described as ‘a Pinter for Pinterphobes’, The Hothouse is a wonderfully dark and satirical example of the great man’s early work. This is a brilliant black comedy, with lots of dark humour mixed in with the wordplay. Take Kafka’s absurdity, add a heaped tablespoon of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil and set it all in the Ministry of Truth and you’re getting towards the tone of this play.
The scene is set in a government institution where ‘patients’ are kept locked in their rooms and referred to by number rather than name. It is Christmas day, and the manager of the facility, Roote, is disturbed to find that one of the patients has given birth (despite no member of staff have filed an official report about having had sex with her), while another has died. Aided by his sinister assistant Gibbs, an alcoholic appropriately named Lush and the sexy yet disturbing Miss Cutts, a scapegoat must be found…
Cast
- ROOTE: Christopher Vian-Smith
- GIBBS: Simon Roberts
- LUSH: Peter Stevens
- LAMB: Ed Cartwright
- MISS CUTTS: Caroline Doyle
- TUBB: Kevin Leech
- LOBB Derek Dempsey
Crew
- Assistant Director / "clipboard-monkey" - Aidan Hall
- Stage Manager - Lauri Morgan
- Assistant Stage Managers - John Thompson and James Hough (one night only!)
- Technical Manager: Gavin Parker
- Lighting Design - Chris Liddle
- Lighting & Sound Operator - Liz Chambers
- Sound Design - Kevin Leech
- Fight director - Anton Krause
- Props - Alan Buckman, Lauri Morgan
- Construction - Gavin Parker, Kevin Leech, Dave Hollander
- Theatre Rep - Stuart Draper
- Poster Design - Aidan Hall
- Programme Design - Maria Bates
Thanks to Dave Hollander for all his help.
- Special thanks to Anton Krause, the cast and crew of The New Directors' Showcase (2007), Mike Elliott, Maria Bates, Stuart Draper, Aidan Hall and my lovely cast and crew who have mucked in beyond the call of duty to help me keep my sanity. And to everyone at SLT for being so welcoming with my first directorial outing here!
Reviews
Some review quotes go here
Gallery
Reminiscences and Anecdotes
Members are encouraged to write about their experiences of working on or seeing this production. Please leave your name. Anonymous entries may be deleted.
Miss Cutts' day trips:
- Pinter's People
- The Hothouse at the National
See Also
- Harold Pinter's site
- The Hothouse by Harold Pinter, Hampstead Theatre, 24 April 1980, transfer to The Ambassadors Theatre, 24 June 1980
Books
- Pinter Plays: 1 (ISBN 0571178448)
- The Hothouse (Pinter: Plays) (ISBN: 0571160867)
