This, the first of four volumes, contains his first five plays, including The Birthday Party (1958), his first full-length drama; as well as two short stories—The Black and White and The Examination—both written before Pinter turned to the theatre. Pinter's exacting and complex use of language and the features that mark his "comedies of menace" are clearly realized in these plays and stories. His speech Writing for the Theatre introduces the volume and establishes the context for these early years.

    Three plays by one of the titans of twentieth century drama, demonstrating the immense power of his understanding of human nature and its frailties.

    The miraculous feat is followed by an encore which consists of a two-minute version of the play! The vast multitude of characters is played by six actors with hectic doubling, and the action takes place at a shortened version of Elsinore Castle.

    The three are attended and visited by family and close friends: Agnes and her mother Felicity, estranged further by the latter's dementia; Brian and Beverly whose martial complications are exacerbated by Brian's new lover, Mark; and Joe and Maggie, unready for the strain of Joe's impending death and it's effect on their teenage son.

    

    

    Book and lyrics for ten American musicals.LEAVE IT TO ME by Bella and Samuel Spewack and Cole PorterLADY IN THE DARK by Moss Hart, Ira Gershwin, and Kurt WeillLOST IN THE STARS by Maxwell Anderson and Kurt WeillWONDERFUL TOWN by Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodorov, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and Leonard BernsteinFIORELLO! by Jerome Weidman and George Abbott, Sheldon Harnick, and Jerry BockCAMELOT by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick LoeweMAN OF LA MANCHA by Dale Wasserman, Joe Darion, and Mitch LeighCABARET by Joe Masteroff, Fred Ebb, and John KanderAPPLAUSE by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, Lee Adams, and Charles StrauseeA LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC by Hugh Wheeler, and Stephen Sondheim

    .."mercilessly funny and wryly affectionate.."