Old Times
Encyclopedia
Old Times is a play by the Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter
. It was first performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company
at the Aldwych Theatre
in London
on June 1, 1971. It starred Colin Blakely
, Dorothy Tutin
, and Vivien Merchant
, and was directed by Peter Hall. The play was dedicated to Hall to celebrate his 40th birthday.
Peter Hall also directed the Broadway
première, which opened at the Billy Rose Theater in New York
on November 16, 1971, starring Robert Shaw
, Rosemary Harris
and Mary Ure
; and a year later, the German language premiére of the play at the Burgtheater
in Vienna
, with Maximilian Schell
, Erika Pluhar
and Anna-Marie Duringer. In February 2007 Hall returned again to the play directing a new production with his Theatre Royal, Bath
company.
In the next scene, Anna arrives, talking incessantly about the fun times she and Kate shared in their youth. Kate says very little. It becomes evident that Anna has a crush on Kate and is trying to win her affections from Deeley. Deeley picks up on this and does his best to interfere. He talks about his past as a sailor and tells Anna that he first met Kate at a movie, and asked her out for coffee afterwards. Anna's rebuttal is a story about her time living with Kate, when she came home to find Kate sitting in silence while a young man sat in their arm chair crying. Anna couldn't see his face because his hand was covering it while he cried. Neither of them said anything to her, so she awkwardly went to bed. Kate went to bed as well, and the man continued to sob in the darkness for a while before getting up and walking over to Anna's bed. He stared at her for a while, but she ignored him. He then went to Kate's bed and lay across her lap, and then he left. Anna emphasizes to Deeley that she ignored the man because she would have nothing to do with him, which seems to make Deeley uncomfortable. Kate neither confirms nor denies either of their stories, and eventually decides to take a bath. Anna seems to be winning Kate from Deeley, which both hurts and angers him.
While Kate is taking her bath, Deeley confronts Anna, telling her that he's met her before. He says she used to dress in black and get men to buy her drinks, and he fell for it, buying her a drink 20 years ago and going with her to party. They sat across the room from each other, and he looked up her skirt. A girl sat beside her and they talked, while Deeley was surrounded by men and lost track of the girls. When he got through the crowd to the couch where the girls had sat, they were gone. Anna pretends to have no idea what he's talking about, and he insists that she was trying to be Kate back then, mimicking her mannerisms and shy smile, but she wasn't as good at it.
Kate returns in her bathrobe, and the two continue to compete for her attention, while she consistently says practically nothing. Eventually, trying to keep Kate on her side, Anna admits that she once wore Kate's underwear to a party where a man rudely stared up her skirt. She goes on to Deeley that Kate always lent her underwear, asking her to wear it all the time. Kate says nothing, but when prompted to confirm or deny their stories, she says to Anna, "I remember you dead." Kate then goes on to describe how Anna had been dead in bed, covered in dirt, and how her body was gone when a man arrived. She told the man that no one slept in the extra bed, and he laid in it, thinking Kate would sleep with him. Instead, she nearly suffocated him with mud from the flower pot by the window, and his response was a proposal of marriage.
Another interpretation is that Kate and Anna are different personalities of the same person, Kate being the prominent one. Deeley met "Anna" first, and the friend at the party was one of the many friends Anna had that Kate mentions in the first scene. Deeley then met Kate at the movies. Deeley cried in the chair when he discovered Kate's mental issue, and stared sadly at the empty bed before hugging Kate. Kate "killed" Anna for Deeley's sake. 20 years later, she tells him that Anna is returning, and he does all he can to keep Kate from allowing Anna back into her life, ultimately succeeding by the end of the play, when Kate kills Anna again by recalling the first time she killed her.
:
Cecily in The Importance of being Earnest
by Oscar Wilde
::
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
. It was first performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company
Royal Shakespeare Company
The Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
at the Aldwych Theatre
Aldwych Theatre
The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Aldwych in the City of Westminster. The theatre was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971. Its seating capacity is 1,200.-Origins:...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
on June 1, 1971. It starred Colin Blakely
Colin Blakely
Colin George Blakely was a Northern Irish character actor. He was considered an actor of great range.-Early life:...
, Dorothy Tutin
Dorothy Tutin
Dame Dorothy Tutin DBE was an English actor of stage, film, and television.An obituary in The Daily Telegraph described her as "one of the most enchanting, accomplished and intelligent leading ladies on the post-war British stage...
, and Vivien Merchant
Vivien Merchant
Vivien Merchant was a British actress.-Career:Merchant performed in many stage productions and several films, including Alfie and Frenzy...
, and was directed by Peter Hall. The play was dedicated to Hall to celebrate his 40th birthday.
Peter Hall also directed the Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
première, which opened at the Billy Rose Theater in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
on November 16, 1971, starring Robert Shaw
Robert Shaw (actor)
Robert Archibald Shaw was an English actor and novelist, remembered for his performances in The Sting , From Russia with Love , A Man for All Seasons , the original The Taking of Pelham One Two Three , Black Sunday , The Deep and Jaws , where he played the shark hunter Quint.-Early life...
, Rosemary Harris
Rosemary Harris
Rosemary Ann Harris is an English actress and a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame. Throughout her career she has been nominated for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award and has won a Golden Globe, an Emmy, a Tony Award, an Obie, and five Drama Desk Awards.-Early life:Harris was born in...
and Mary Ure
Mary Ure
Eileen Mary Ure was a Scottish actress of stage and film.-Early life:Born in Glasgow where she studied at the school of drama, Ure was the daughter of civil engineer Colin McGregor Ure and Edith Swinburne. She went to the independent Mount School in York and trained for the stage at the Central...
; and a year later, the German language premiére of the play at the Burgtheater
Burgtheater
The Burgtheater , originally known as K.K. Theater an der Burg, then until 1918 as the K.K. Hofburgtheater, is the Austrian National Theatre in Vienna and one of the most important German language theatres in the world.The Burgtheater was created in 1741 and has become known as "die Burg" by the...
in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, with Maximilian Schell
Maximilian Schell
Maximilian Schell is an Austrian-born Swiss actor who won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Judgment at Nuremberg in 1961...
, Erika Pluhar
Erika Pluhar
Erika Pluhar is an actress, singer and author from Austria and was born on 28 February 1939 in Vienna.Erika Pluhar is the daughter of Anna and Dr Josef Pluhar. One of her sisters, Ingeborg G...
and Anna-Marie Duringer. In February 2007 Hall returned again to the play directing a new production with his Theatre Royal, Bath
Theatre Royal, Bath
The Theatre Royal in Bath, England, is over 200 years old. It is one of the more important theatres in the United Kingdom outside London, with capacity for an audience of around 900....
company.
Quotations
- “If you have only one of something you can't say it's the best of anything.”
- ”There are some things one remembers even though they may never have happened. There are things I remember which may never have happened but as I recall them so they take place”
- ”I was interested once in the arts, but I can't remember now which ones they were.”
- ”You have a wonderful casserole…I mean wife.”
- ”I remember you dead.”
List of characters
(With original cast.)- Deeley - a man in his forties (Colin BlakelyColin BlakelyColin George Blakely was a Northern Irish character actor. He was considered an actor of great range.-Early life:...
) - Kate - a woman in her forties (Dorothy TutinDorothy TutinDame Dorothy Tutin DBE was an English actor of stage, film, and television.An obituary in The Daily Telegraph described her as "one of the most enchanting, accomplished and intelligent leading ladies on the post-war British stage...
) - Anna - a woman in her forties (Vivien MerchantVivien MerchantVivien Merchant was a British actress.-Career:Merchant performed in many stage productions and several films, including Alfie and Frenzy...
)
Summary
The play begins in a seaside cottage with married couple Kate and Deeley smoking cigarettes and discussing Kate's old friend Anna, who is coming to visit them. Kate says that Anna was her only friend, but Anna had many friends. Deeley says he's never met Anna, and is surprised to hear that Kate and Anna roomed together 20 years ago. Kate says that Anna occasionally stole her underwear.In the next scene, Anna arrives, talking incessantly about the fun times she and Kate shared in their youth. Kate says very little. It becomes evident that Anna has a crush on Kate and is trying to win her affections from Deeley. Deeley picks up on this and does his best to interfere. He talks about his past as a sailor and tells Anna that he first met Kate at a movie, and asked her out for coffee afterwards. Anna's rebuttal is a story about her time living with Kate, when she came home to find Kate sitting in silence while a young man sat in their arm chair crying. Anna couldn't see his face because his hand was covering it while he cried. Neither of them said anything to her, so she awkwardly went to bed. Kate went to bed as well, and the man continued to sob in the darkness for a while before getting up and walking over to Anna's bed. He stared at her for a while, but she ignored him. He then went to Kate's bed and lay across her lap, and then he left. Anna emphasizes to Deeley that she ignored the man because she would have nothing to do with him, which seems to make Deeley uncomfortable. Kate neither confirms nor denies either of their stories, and eventually decides to take a bath. Anna seems to be winning Kate from Deeley, which both hurts and angers him.
While Kate is taking her bath, Deeley confronts Anna, telling her that he's met her before. He says she used to dress in black and get men to buy her drinks, and he fell for it, buying her a drink 20 years ago and going with her to party. They sat across the room from each other, and he looked up her skirt. A girl sat beside her and they talked, while Deeley was surrounded by men and lost track of the girls. When he got through the crowd to the couch where the girls had sat, they were gone. Anna pretends to have no idea what he's talking about, and he insists that she was trying to be Kate back then, mimicking her mannerisms and shy smile, but she wasn't as good at it.
Kate returns in her bathrobe, and the two continue to compete for her attention, while she consistently says practically nothing. Eventually, trying to keep Kate on her side, Anna admits that she once wore Kate's underwear to a party where a man rudely stared up her skirt. She goes on to Deeley that Kate always lent her underwear, asking her to wear it all the time. Kate says nothing, but when prompted to confirm or deny their stories, she says to Anna, "I remember you dead." Kate then goes on to describe how Anna had been dead in bed, covered in dirt, and how her body was gone when a man arrived. She told the man that no one slept in the extra bed, and he laid in it, thinking Kate would sleep with him. Instead, she nearly suffocated him with mud from the flower pot by the window, and his response was a proposal of marriage.
Interpretations
One interpretation of the play is that all three characters were at one time real living people. Deeley met Anna first and slept with her, then later met Kate at the movies. Kate may or may not have been the friend Anna spoke with at the party. Deeley began dating Kate, and Kate found out that Anna was trying to steal him from her, so she killed Anna. Anna's death upset Deeley (he stared longingly into her empty bed), and Kate then killed him, too. Once he was dead, Kate's mind took over, imagining him hopelessly in love with her. She has lived the past 20 years in a fictional world where Anna and Deeley love her instead of each other.Another interpretation is that Kate and Anna are different personalities of the same person, Kate being the prominent one. Deeley met "Anna" first, and the friend at the party was one of the many friends Anna had that Kate mentions in the first scene. Deeley then met Kate at the movies. Deeley cried in the chair when he discovered Kate's mental issue, and stared sadly at the empty bed before hugging Kate. Kate "killed" Anna for Deeley's sake. 20 years later, she tells him that Anna is returning, and he does all he can to keep Kate from allowing Anna back into her life, ultimately succeeding by the end of the play, when Kate kills Anna again by recalling the first time she killed her.
Themes
Harold PinterHarold Pinter
Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...
:
- “One way of looking at speech is to say it is a stratagem to cover nakedness.”
- “What goes on in my plays is realistic, but what I’m doing is not realism.”
- “The past is what you remember, imagine you remember, convince yourself you remember, or pretend you remember.”
- “A thing is not necessarily either true or false; it can be both true and false.”
Cecily in The Importance of being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at St. James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape burdensome social obligations...
by Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
::
- "MemoryMemoryIn psychology, memory is an organism's ability to store, retain, and recall information and experiences. Traditional studies of memory began in the fields of philosophy, including techniques of artificially enhancing memory....
usually chronicles the things that have never happened, and couldn’t possibly have happened.”
Some recent productions
- 1985 Theatr Clwyd revival by Lindy DaviesLindy DaviesLindy Davies is an Australian actress, director and drama teacher. From 1995–2007 she was the Dean of the School of Drama at the Victorian College of Arts in Melbourne....
, at the Emlyn Williams Studio in May, transferred to Wyndham's TheatreWyndham's TheatreWyndham's Theatre is a West End theatre, one of two opened by the actor/manager Charles Wyndham . Located on Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster, it was designed by W.G.R. Sprague about 1898, the architect of six other London theatres between then and 1916...
, London, starring Leigh LawsonLeigh LawsonLeigh Lawson is a film and stage actor, director, and writer.-Career:Trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Lawson has acted in film and television since the early 1970s, directed plays in the West End and on Broadway...
, Harriet WalterHarriet WalterDame Harriet Mary Walter, DBE is a British actress.-Personal life:She is the niece of renowned British actor Sir Christopher Lee, as the daughter of his elder sister Xandra Lee. On her father's side she is a great-great-great-granddaughter of John Walter, founder of The TimesShe was educated at...
and Julie ChristieJulie ChristieJulie Frances Christie is a British actress. Born in British India to English parents, at the age of six Christie moved to England, where she attended boarding school....
; with a darkly imposing brick back-drop designed by Julian McGowan - 1997 Little TheaterLittle Theatre MovementAs the new medium of cinema was beginning to replace theatre as a source of large-scale spectacle, the Little Theatre Movement developed in the United States around 1912...
revival by Angelo Zuccolo, in Binghamton, New YorkBinghamton, New YorkBinghamton is a city in the Southern Tier of New York in the United States. It is near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers...
- September, starring Ryan Williams & Angelique Zuccolo; with a single wall-and-open-window design by William Manos - 2004 Donmar WarehouseDonmar WarehouseDonmar Warehouse is a small not-for-profit theatre in the Covent Garden area of London, with a capacity of 251.-About:Under the artistic leadership of Michael Grandage, the theatre has presented some of London’s most memorable award-winning theatrical experiences, as well as garnered critical...
, London: directed by Roger MichellRoger MichellRoger Michell is an English theatre, television and film director.-Personal life:He was born in Pretoria, South Africa but spent significant parts of his childhood in Beirut, Damascus and Prague as his father was a diplomat. He was educated at Clifton College where he became a member of Brown's...
, with Jeremy NorthamJeremy NorthamJeremy Philip Northam is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Ivor Novello in the 2001 film Gosford Park, as Dean Martin in the 2002 television movie Martin and Lewis, and as Thomas More on the Showtime series The Tudors...
, Gina McKeeGina McKeeGeorgina "Gina" McKee is an English actor known for her television roles in Our Friends in the North , The Lost Prince and The Forsyte Saga ; and her portrayal of Bella in the film Notting Hill ....
and Helen McCroryHelen McCroryHelen Elizabeth McCrory is a British actress. She portrayed Cherie Blair in both the 2006 film The Queen and the 2010 film The Special Relationship. She also portrayed Narcissa Malfoy in the final three Harry Potter films....
; played against an abstract mirrored set design by William DudleyWilliam Dudley (designer)William Dudley is a British theatre designer.Dudley is the son of William Stuart Dudley and his wife Dorothy Irene. He was educated at the St Martin's School of Art and the Slade School of Art... - 2005 The Wharf, SydneySydneySydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
: directed by Lindy DaviesLindy DaviesLindy Davies is an Australian actress, director and drama teacher. From 1995–2007 she was the Dean of the School of Drama at the Victorian College of Arts in Melbourne....
and starring Elizabeth Alexander as Kate, Angela Punch McGregorAngela Punch McGregorAngela Punch McGregor is an Australian actress.As "Angela Punch" she acted in television serial Class of '75 and had a guest role in situation comedy Alvin Purple ....
as Anna and William Zappa as Deeley - 2007 UK tour: directed by Peter Hall, starring Neil PearsonNeil PearsonNeil Joshua Pearson is a British actor best known for his work on television.-Biography:Pearson grew up in Battersea, London, the son of a panel beater, who left home when he was five, and a legal secretary, and was educated at Woolverstone Hall School, Suffolk, a boarding school, where he first...
as Deeley, Janie DeeJanie DeeJanie Dee is an English actress and singer.She is married to the actor Rupert Wickham.-Theatre:Dee is presently part of the Globe Theatre 2011 season playing The Countess of Roussillion in Shakespeare's "All's Well that Ends Well" and in October she goes to Nottingham Playhouse to play Amanda in ...
as Kate and Susannah HarkerSusannah HarkerSusannah Harker is an English film, television, and theatre actor. She is the daughter of English actress Polly Adams and actor Richard Owens, and the great-niece of Gordon Adams. She was nominated for a BAFTA TV Award in 1990 for her role as Mattie Storin in House of Cards...
as Anna - 2007 Neptune Theatre (Halifax)Neptune Theatre (Halifax)The Neptune Theatre is the largest professional theatre company in Atlantic Canada with a capacity of 497 and is located in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It performs a mixture of new and classical plays....
, Canada: directed by Brian Richmond, starring Ruth Madoc-Jones, Dan Lett and Lenore Zann - 2008 Harvard UniversityHarvard UniversityHarvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, Adams Pool Theater: directed by Dan Pecci, performed by Dan Pecci, Renée Pastel, and Julia Renaud - 2008 New York UniversityNew York UniversityNew York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, College of Arts and Science Theater: directed by Jillian Schiavi, starring Alexandra Carr as Kate, Zachary Fithian as Deeley, and Alexandra Bryan as Anna - 2008 Clarion University of PennsylvaniaClarion University of PennsylvaniaClarion University of Pennsylvania, located on a campus in Clarion, Pennsylvania, is one of fourteen universities of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education ....
, Marwick-Boyd Little Theater: directed by Robert Bullington, starring Tyler Cramer, Natalie Dunn and Kate Quigley - 2009 Yale UniversityYale UniversityYale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, Whitney Humanities Center Theater, starring Hannah Corrigan, Michael Leibenluft, and Elizabeth Sutton-Stone; directed by Toni Dorfman - 2009 Paragon Theater, Denver, ColoradoDenver, ColoradoThe City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
: Directed by Suzanne Favette, starring Carolyn Valentine, Emily Paton Davies, and Kevin Hart - 2009 American Players TheatreAmerican Players TheatreAmerican Players Theatre is a classical theater located just south of Spring Green, Wisconsin. It includes a 1,148-seat outdoor amphitheater....
, Wisconsin: directed by Laura Gordon, starring Jonathan Smoots, Tracy Arnold and Carey Cannon - 2010 University of YorkUniversity of YorkThe University of York , is an academic institution located in the city of York, England. Established in 1963, the campus university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, covering a wide range of subjects...
Drama Society. Directed by Jonathan Kerridge-Phipps, starring Serena Manteghi, Sam Hinton and Georgia Bird - 2010 Boston UniversityBoston UniversityBoston University is a private research university located in Boston, Massachusetts. With more than 4,000 faculty members and more than 31,000 students, Boston University is one of the largest private universities in the United States and one of Boston's largest employers...
School of Theatre: Directed by Chris Junno, starring Marion Le Coguic, Kat Crawley, and Ross Neuenfeldt - 2011 Shakespeare Theatre CompanyShakespeare Theatre CompanyThe Shakespeare Theatre Company is a regional theatre company located in Washington, D.C. Their self professed mission "is to present classic theatre of scope and size in an imaginative, skillful and accessible American style that honors the playwrights’ language and intentions while viewing their...
, Washington, DC: Directed by Michael Kahn, starring Steven CulpSteven CulpSteven Bradford Culp is an American film and television actor, best known for his roles as Rex Van de Kamp in the television series Desperate Housewives and CIA Agent Clayton Webb in JAG.-Early life:...
, Tracy Lynn Middendorf, and Holly TwyfordHolly TwyfordHolly Twyford is a Washington, D.C.-based American stage actress. She is a ten-time nominee and a four-time winner of the Helen Hayes Award.-Biography:...