The Hothouse
| The Hothouse | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Harold Pinter |
| Characters | Roote Gibbs Lamb Miss Cutts Lush Tubb Lobb |
| Date premiered | April 1980 |
| Place premiered | Hampstead Theatre, London |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Tragicomedy |
| Setting | Various locations within a mental institution |
| Official site | |
The Hothouse (1958/1980) is a full-length
Setting
The play is set in an institution whose nature is subject to interpretation; throughout the play, it is ambiguously referred to as both a "rest home" and a "sanitorium" but its "residents" or "patients" are designated anonymously by numbers, not by their names.
Plot
The professionalism and even sanity of the institution's director, Roote, are undermined by his subordinates: the efficient and ambitious Gibbs, the aptly named alcoholic Lush, and Miss Cutts, Roote's calculating and shrewd mistress who is also involved with Gibbs. After the reported murder of one patient and the rape and resulting pregnancy of another, Roote orders Gibbs to find the perpetrator(s), who it appears is Roote himself, and Gibbs supplants his boss as administrator of the corrupt "rest home", whose inmates converge upon the staff, resulting in mayhem.
List of characters
- Roote, a man in his fifties
- Gibbs, a man in his thirties
- Lush, a man in his thirties
- Miss Cutts, a woman in her thirties
- Lamb, a man in his twenties
- Tubb, a man of fifty
- Lobb, a man of fifty
Critical reception and interpretation
The play has been interpreted as a searingly comic indictment of institutional
Productions
World premiere
"First presented at Hampstead Theatre, London, on 24 April 1980 and transferred to the Ambassador Theatre, London on 25 June 1980"; directed by Harold Pinter.[1]
Cast:
- Derek Newark, Roote
- James Grant, Gibbs
- Roger Davidson, Lamb
- Angela Pleasence, Miss Cutts
- Robert East, Lush
- Michael Forrest, Tubb
- Edward de Souza, Lobb
Other theatre personnel:
- Eileen Diss, Set Designer
- Elizabeth Waller, Costume Designer
- Gerry Jenkinson, Lighting
- Dominic Muldowney, Sound
American premiere
The American premiere was directed by Adrian Hall at the Trinity Repertory Company for its 1981–1982 season and transferred to the Playhouse Theatre in New York City, from 30 April through 30 May 1982, produced by Arthur Cantor Associates.[5] Richard Kavanaugh, who played Gibbs, was nominated for "Best Performance by a Featured Actor" at the 36th Tony Awards in 1982.[5]
Cast:
- Dan Butler, Lamb
- Peter Gerety, Lush
- David C. Jones, Lobb
- Richard Kavanaugh, Gibbs
- Howard London, Tubb
- George Martin, Roote
- Amy Van Nostrand, Miss Cutts
Other theatre personnel:
- Eugene Lee, Scenic and Lighting Design
- William Lane, Costume Design
London revivals
A revival of The Hothouse, directed by Ian Rickson, with a cast including Stephen Moore (Roote), Lia Williams (Miss Cutts), and Henry Woolf (Tubb), was staged in the Lyttelton at the Royal National Theatre, London, from 11 July to 27 October 2007.[4][6]
- London 2013
During May–August 2013 the play was presented at Studio One in the West End
Notes
- ^ a b c "The Hothouse – Premiere". HaroldPinter.org. Harold Pinter. Archived from the original (Web) on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 31 March 2009. Cf. "Death-Rattle", by Benedict Nightingale, as rpt. from the New Statesman (2001).
- ^ Rich, Frank (7 May 1982). "Hothouse, A New-Old Pinter". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 March 2014. Cf.
- ^ "The Hothouse – 1995". Harold Pinter. Retrieved 31 March 2009. For a review-article about this production, see Merritt.
- ^ a b John Thaxter (19 July 2007). "What's On: Reviews – The Hothouse" (Blog). The Stage. thestage.co.uk. Retrieved 21 January 2009.
- ^ a b "The Hothouse (Playhouse Theatre)" (Web). Internet Broadway Database. ibdb.com. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
- ^ "The Hothouse". Royal National Theatre. National Theatre Online. 11 July 2007. Archived from the original (Web) on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 15 June 2007.
- ^ "Home". thehothousewestend.com.
Further reading
Merritt, Susan Hollis. "Pinter Playing Pinter: The Hothouse." The Pinter Review: Collected Essays 1995–1996. Ed. Francis Gillen and Steven H. Gale. Tampa, FL:
External links
- The Hothouse at the Internet Broadway Database
- "The Hothouse" at Harold Pinter.org – The Official Website of the International Playwright Harold Pinter