Harold Pinter
Play script
English
Lamb attends a job interview conducted by Miss Piffs, during which she subjects him to various rigorous tests, including electrodes and interrogation. This dramatic sketch was first performed on BBC Radio in 1964 and later staged.
Browse productions of Applicant in the database
Date of Composition: 1959 - 1959 Confidence Level
Adapted From: The Hothouse (1958)
Adapted Work Note: The sketch was adapted from a scene extracted form the then unpublished and unperformed play The Hothouse, originally prepared for broadcast on BBC radio.
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Maudsley Hospital, Camberwell, London
As an unemployed actor and in need of any income, Pinter volunteered as a 'guinea pig' for a psychiatric experiment which took place at this hospital. He was paid around ten shillings. He was subjected to loud noises through a set of earphones. The experience informed a scene in his 1958 play The Hothouse, extracted and adapted for a sketch entitled Applicant (1959), and also the treatment of Aston in The Caretaker.
Appears in 'The Playmakers: Two', 1st edition, edited by Roger Mansfield and Illustrated by Barry Davies.
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William Baker and John C. Ross, Harold Pinter: A Bibliographical History (London: British Library; New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 2005)
Bibliography
On pp. 30-31 Baker and Ross provide the publication information for the sketch.
Martin Esslin, Pinter the Playwright, 6th edn (London: Methuen, 2000)
Academic book
The summary of the sketch provided above is taken from Esslin's own description on p. 226.
http://haroldpinter.org/plays/index.shtml
URL
Information about date of composition (finished) taken from site's webpage for Pinter's plays [accessed 20 October 2019].