Moonlight
Moonlight

Moonlight (1993)

Moonlight

Harold Pinter

Play script

English

The play is set in two bedrooms and an indefinite dark space. One is occupied by Andy, a dying ex-civil servant tended by his wife, Bel. The other area, a shabby bedsit, is inhabited by Andy's estranged sons, Jake and Fred, who pass their days playing fantasy games about father-figures. Two other characters appear: Maria, Andy's former mistress, and her husband Ralph, a onetime soccer referee. Meanwhile, Andy and Bel's daughter, Bridget, hovers over the action.

Date of Composition: 11 December 1992 - 27 January 1993   Confidence Level  

Linked Works

No Linked works have been added to this work record yet.

Linked Places

Balls Pond Road (Type of place: Location (within the fiction))

Balls Pond Road, Hackney, London

Ralph and Andy in Moonlight both speak of walking down the Balls Pond Road, locating their memories near Pinter's youth in Hackney.


Amersham (Type of place: Location (within the fiction))

Amersham

In Moonlight, in a flashback scene, Jake talks of wanting to drive to Amersham to see a gig. This might locate the play as set in a family home in London. In an interview in 1993, Pinter talks of having played cricket in Great Hampden, which from London one would reach by road by travelling through Amersham.


Publishers

Faber and Faber Ltd on (6 September 1993)

Characters

Andy (Age: fifties, Male)

Bel (Age: 50, Female)

Jake (Moonlight) (Age: 28, Male)

Fred (Moonlight) (Age: 27, Male)

Maria (Moonlight) (Age: 50, Female)

Ralph (Age: fifties, Male)

Bridget (Moonlight) (Age: 16, Female)

Resources

Full text on Drama Online (URL)

Type: Script

External Link: https://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/plays/moonlight-iid-134610

Subscription required

Sources

William Baker and John C. Ross's biographical history of Harold Pinter's work

William Baker and John C. Ross, Harold Pinter: A Bibliographical History (London: British Library; New Castle, DE: Oak Knoll Press, 2005)

Bibliography

On p. 102 Baker and Ross provide the publication information for the play script.

Harold Pinter Appointments Diary, 1992

The British Library Modern Manuscripts, The Harold Pinter Archive, Add MS 88880/12/25, no ff

Library archive

Information about composition date (started) taken from entry for month of December.

The Guardian Website

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2011/apr/13/moonlight-michael-billington

URL

The summary of Moonlight is taken and adapted from Michael Billington's review of Bijan Sheibani's 2011 production of the play at the Donmar Warehouse, London [accessed 14 November 2017].

Harold Pinter Appointments Diary, 1993

The British Library Modern Manuscripts, The Harold Pinter Archive, Add MS 88880/12/26, no ff

Library archive

Information about date of composition (finished) taken from entry for January.