Harold Pinter’s first full-length play was a flop in 1958: “Oh, you poor chap,” an usher consoled him amid empty seats.
What repulsed early audiences and most critics was unsolved puzzles. The solid setting of a seaside boarding house holds people with shifty foundations. Is Stanley, the long-term lodger of landlady Meg and deckchair attendant Petey, actually a former concert pianist? When a gangsterish duo checks in to check out Stanley, why does Goldberg have three different first names (Nat, Simey, Benny) and is sidekick McCann really both a former IRA terrorist and defrocked Catholic priest?
