Pinter 6: Party Time / Celebration

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10 January 2019 · Follow on Stagedoor

“You have only until the 26th January to catch parts 5 & 6 in Jamie Lloyd’s season. These two separate bills of lesser known Pinter plays are both rewarding in their own ways, with The Room (starring an unrecognizable Jane Horrocks as a woman under threat) reminding us how Pinter somehow sprung up as a fully formed talent. Pinter 6 is starrier still, featuring John Simm, Celia Imrie and Katherine Kingsley amongst others in a double bill comprising Party Time and Celebration. I really liked Party Time (even the title is treacherous). Celebration less so but the acting is peerless, and both evenings offer uneasy laughter and chills.”

Overview

A scathing and bitterly amusing attack on the increasingly powerful and narcissistic super-rich, set against the backdrop of terrifying state oppression, the highly pertinent Party Time is paired with Harold Pinter’s final play, Celebration.

Celebration is an irresistible comedy about the vulgarity and ostentatious materialism of the nouveau riche, set in a fashionable London restaurant. An evening of social satire that chimes with our times, directed by Jamie Lloyd.

Critic reviews

The absolute contrast between both plays made the whole evening really dynamic showing two different ends of the universal flaws and desires of our human nature

⋅ London Box Office

Aside from the striking parallels of both plays with modern society, Party Time and Celebration, in this staging in particular can act as an ideal introduction to Harold Pinter, and can appeal to a much wider audience

⋅ Theatre Weekly

It's vibrant entertainment with a pointedly resonant undertow

Broadway World

The whole cast are cooking with gas

⋅ The Telegraph

They are given Rolls Royce productions of clarity and intelligence by an exceptional cast who, across both plays, seize on their rich caricatures like lions on raw meat

⋅ WhatsOnStage

Jamie Lloyd can direct the hell out of a Harold Pinter play, and as his Pinter at the Pinter season heads towards the home stretch, the swaggering pizzazz of ‘Pinter Six’ is a real shot of adrenaline

⋅ Time Out

The cast of nine are having so much fun that, for a crazy moment, I actually wanted to join them on stage

⋅ The Times

Prescient Pinter double-bill about the power of money to corrupt with an all-star cast

⋅ The Stage

A cause for Celebration indeed

⋅ The Independent

Starry cast bring shorter works into the spotlight

⋅ The Guardian