'Zoë Wanamaker is absolutely terrific' – The Birthday Party receives fantastic reviews

21 January 2018 23:06

Following The Birthday Party’s opening night on 18 January, this 60th anniversary production of Harold Pinter's classic has received fantastic reviews, with Zoë’s performance as endearing seaside landlady Meg being praised time and again as 'superb'.

Here's what theatre critics are saying about the landmark show.

‘Ian Rickson’s superlative revival […] confirms afresh that it’s a darkly comic masterpiece’ – Dominic Cavendish, Telegraph, 5*

‘Pinter’s classic play is minted fresh in this perfectly cast production […] Zoe Wanamaker is superb as Meg’ – Paul T. Davies, BritishTheatre.com, 5*

‘[I]t is immediately clear that the performances are outstanding. Wanamaker and Wight are a completely convincing old married couple’ – Aleks Sierz, TheArtsDesk.com, 5*

‘[Y]ou couldn’t have wished for a better revival than this […] Zoë Wanamaker is absolutely terrific as Meg’ – Ann Treneman, The Times, 4*

‘It’s beautifully acted […] powerfully revived and gripping from start to finish’ – Christopher Hart, The Sunday Times, 4*

‘[A] starry, meticulous, beautifully considered revival which demonstrates the play's undiminished power to disconcert […] Zoe Wanamaker and Peter Wight are superb’ – Paul Taylor, Independent, 4*

‘[T]his is a production that does rich justice to this strange, elusive play, and it is packed with illuminating detail’ – Michael Billington, Guardian, 4*

‘Ian Rickson’s immaculate production […] Zoë Wanamaker plays the randy landlady of the dingy boarding house with delicate, unexpected wistfulness’ – Susannah Clapp, Observer, 4*

‘Wanamaker is superb, catching [Meg’s] fussy flirtatiousness and hinting at the possibility that she’s sliding into dementia’ – Henry Hitchings, Evening Standard, 4*

‘As landlady Meg, there’s poignancy in Wanamaker’s repetitive prattle about cornflakes, her eagerness to please, and in her tottering, giggling tipsiness’ – Natasha Tripney, The Stage, 4*

‘Ian Rickson’s production is almost definitive […] Wanamaker is very good’ – John Nathan, Jewish Chronicle, 4*

‘The characters are […] clearly delineated in a series of beautifully-detailed performances. Zoë Wanamaker invests Meg with an ever-hopeful energy’ – Sarah Crompton, Whatsonstage.com, 4*

‘[A] really powerful and entertaining revival of a modern classic’ – Mark Shenton, LondonTheatre.co.uk, 4*

‘Pinter’s 1957 masterpiece is given a wonderfully dark revival at his eponymous theatre, where the air is thick with menace’ – Steve Dinneen, City A.M., 4*

‘Peter Wight and Wanamaker superbly convey […] ingrained marital patterns, in a lighter version of the play's later double-act interrogation […] it's a terrifically entertaining and oddly moving piece of theatre’ – Marianka Swain, BroadwayWorld, 4*

A party for The Birthday Party

The Birthday Party’s after party was held at chic restaurant Mint Leaf. Zoë looked sophisticated in an embroidered jacket as she posed for photos with her castmates, which you can see on the show’s Facebook page and Whatsonstage.com.

This is the second revival of Pinter’s Birthday Party in which Zoë has appeared, though her memories of the first are hazy. ‘I played [Meg’s vibrant neighbour] Lulu in 1970-something but I’d forgotten it,’ she told the Evening Standard at the after party. ‘It was a British Council tour of Asia, we went to Hong Kong and Sarawak so I remember that but not a thing about the part.’

In an insightful, detailed interview with BroadwayWorld, Peter Wight explains that a great deal of work has gone into Petey and Meg’s backstory. ‘Zoë Wanamaker and I have thought about this couple's history, their boarding house, about them having children or not – that's very resonant.’ He adds that the cast visited Eastbourne, where Pinter found ‘the seed of the play’, as part of their research.

If you’d like to watch Zoë's 5* hit, you’ll be pleased to know that some tickets are still available. Catch The Birthday Party at London’s Harold Pinter Theatre until 14 April.

Thanks to Janet for her help.

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