During February and March of 2005, I played Stanley in Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party directed by Terry Schreiber. It was played in repertory with The Homecoming as part of The Pinter Project.

Below are a few stills from the production. A quick disclaimer: At the time these photos were taken our costumes were not complete. Most notably Goldberg, McCann and Lulu are not wearing what they ultimately had for the production.

Petey (Michael Salconi) and Meg (Sarah Ann Rodgers).

Petey tells Meg about the two men he met on the beach looking for a place to stay.
Occassionally, in my rampages as Stanley, I would accidentally knock over the salt shaker there. Michael had this hilarious business where he would pick it up and toss some salt over his shoulder when it happened. The first time he did it, I almost broke character.

Meg asks Stanley (me, Stephen Heskett) if the corn flakes are nice. Petey thought they were “Very nice.” I thought they were ‘orrible.

After constant bullying from Stanley, Meg tries to console Stanley and convince him to stay. Sarah Ann’s performance was so touching here, I had a difficult time refusing to be comforted.

Lulu (Christina Doikos) with Stanley. And yes, the skirt on her actual costume was just as short.

Lulu is at a loss when Stanley asks her to go away with him. “Where?”
“Nowhere. There’s nowhere to go.”
I loved doing this too short scene with Christina.

Left, Goldberg (Larry Cantor) and right, McCann (Aaron Letrick) interrogate Stanley.

More from the famous interrogation scene. I like this photo because it looks like Goldberg just smacked me in the back of the head. In reality though, they don’t touch me throughout the scene. Aaron and Larry were incredibly good in this very difficult scene.

McCann threatens Stanley in this typical example of the sudden violence in Pinter’s plays.

The birthday party. The drum that Meg gives to Stanley as a gift can be seen on the table. I hated that drum. Audience loved it though.

And the toast.

Lulu has “always liked older men, they can soathe you.”

McCann makes the mistake of calling Goldberg “Simey” which is what his mother and wife called him.

In the third act, Stanley is completely destroyed by the two men. His ability to see was taken by McCann breaking his glasses, and his ability to speak removed (to put it nicely) .

These photos were all taken by Stefan Mreczko.