Celebration (1999)

Harold Pinter

Play script

English

A satire upon the lives of three couples dining at an elegant restaurant. At one table, two sisters married to two brothers are ostensibly celebrating the anniversary of one of the couples, but they seem neither to care about each other nor to know what play, opera, or concert they have just attended. Sitting at another table, another couple are a variation on the others, which is revealed in a comic fashion as the three couples interact with a Hostess, a Maitre d’ and a Waiter who interjects from time to time.

Browse productions of Celebration in the database

Date of Composition: 1999 - 19 August 1999 Confidence Level

Linked Works

The Room

Following its premiere as a double-bill with The Room, Celebration was published along with Pinter's first play.

Linked Places

The Ivy, restaurant (Type of place: Place of inspiration)

The Ivy, London

Pinter's Celebration takes place in an exclusive restaurant, believed to be modelled on The Ivy, which Pinter frequented. There is no textual evidence for this, but the connection was often cited in reviews of performances.

Confidence Level

Publishers

Grove Press on (June 2000)

Appears in Celebration and The Room.

Faber and Faber Ltd on (20 March 2000)

Appears in Celebration and The Room.

Samuel French Ltd on (May 2002) Confidence Level

Acting edition.

Characters

Lambert (Celebration) (Age: Not specified, Male)

Matt (Age: Not specified, Male)

Prue (Age: Not specified, Female)

Julie (Age: Not specified, Female)

Russell (Age: Not specified, Male)

Suki (Age: Not specified, Female)

Richard (Celebration) (Age: Not specified, Male)

Sonia (Celebration) (Age: Not specified, Female)

Waitress 1 (Age: Not specified, Female)

Waitress implies a woman.

Waitress 2 (Age: Not specified, Female)

Waitress implies a woman.

Waiter (Celebration) (Age: Not specified, Male)

Resources

Full text on Drama Online (URL)

Type: Script

External Link: https://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/plays/celebration-iid-134618

Subscription required

Sources

Katherine H. Burkman's Desperation in Harold Pinter’s Celebration

http://revel.unice.fr/cycnos/index.html?id=1663

Academic article

The summary of the play provided is taken and adapted slightly from the abstract of Burkman's journal article.

Antonia Fraser's book on her life with Harold Pinter

Antonia Fraser, Must You Go?: My Life with Harold Pinter (London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2010)

Published diary

Fraser reports on the progress of composition (pp. 234-36).

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

Baker and Ross provide the publication information for the play script (pp.106-09).