Silence (1968)

Harold Pinter

Play script

English

This one-act play is often performed in a double-bill with Landscape. Both plays mark a change in Pinter's style, becoming less literal and more subliminal to give voice to unspoken thoughts. In Silence a young girl's encounters with two male friends are told in contrapuntal triad, swimming with memories. Written in 1968; staged by the RSC in July 1969; performed on BBC Radio 3 in August 1969.

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Date of Composition: October 1968 - 1968

Linked Works

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Publishers

Methuen on (1969)

Grove Press on (1 October 1970)

Published as part of Complete Works, Vol. 3.

Characters

Bates (Age: mid thirties, Male)

Rumsey (Age: forties, Male)

Ellen (Age: twenties, Female)

Resources

Full text on Drama Online (URL)

Type: Script

External Link: https://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/plays/silence-pinter-iid-129819

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Sources

Samuel French Website

http://www.samuelfrench.com/p/2950/landscape-and-silence

URL

The summary of the play is taken and adapted from Samuel French Publisher's website.

Patricia Bosworth, Why Doesn't He Write More?'

The New York Times, Sunday 27 October 1968, p.D3

Newspaper article

Interview with Bosworth in which Pinter mentions that while in New York City for the stage production of The Man in the Glass Booth he has begun writing a new play and supects it 'might ultimately make a double-bill with Landscape.'