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Harold Pinter was born on the 10th of October, 1930, in Hackney, east London,
He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts
and the Central School of Speech and Drama,
He married twice; Vivien Merchant in 1956,
and Antonia Fraser in 1980. He won a Tony Award
for Best Play in 1967, the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2005,
and over 50 other awards for his work.
He worked as an actor, director, playwright and screenwriter throughout his career.
He worked in repertory theatre from 1951-1954 in England
and Ireland. For a short period during this time he
acted under the stage name, 'David Baron'. He also worked
as a postman, a bouncer, a waiter
and a snow-clearer to earn a proper income.
He acted on stage, in radio, TV and Film.
He also worked as a director,
with more then 50 productions. In 1973, he became an associate director of
the National Theatre in London.
He wrote 27 screenplays for TV and film,
based on his own and others work. His first play, 'The Room',
was written in three days and performed at the University of Bristol
in 1957, directed by his friend Henry Woolf.
Overall, he wrote 29 plays and 15 dramatic sketches.
When called for national service, he registered
as a conscientious objector, but was still fined for refusing to serve.
Through his career he was an avid political activist,
opposed wars, corrupt governments
and other social justice issues. He was a member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
and supported the British Anti-Apartheid Movement. In his last 25 years
of life, Pinter focused his essays, interviews
and public appearances directly on political issues.
He continued working as an actor despite his oesophageal cancer,
his last role being in Samuel Becketts 'Krapp's Last Tape'.
He died of cancer on December 24th, 2008.
Ben: Oh my gosh GUS. What's that? BEN. A child of eight killed a cat!
GUS. Get away. BEN. It's a fact. What about that, eh? A child of eight killing a cat!
GUS. How did he do it? BEN. It was a girl. GUS. How did she do it?
(Cat screaming) Girl: Die die
BEN. She... It doesn't say. GUS. Why not?
BEN. Wait a minute. It just says--Her brother, aged eleven, viewed the incident from the tool shed. GUS. Go on!
BEN. That's ____ ridiculous. Gus: I bet he did it.
BEN. Who? GUS. The brother. BEN. I think you're right. Ben: Listen to this! The same girl of eleven wanted to cross the road
later that day. But there was a lot of traffic, see ? She couldn't see how she was going to squeeze through. So she just ran across the road.
Gus: She what? Ben: She ran across the road right in front of a car.
Girl screams. Blood everywhere.
Gus: No. Ben: The car didn't stop and ran over her.
GUS. Go on. BEN. That's what it says here. GUS. Get away. BEN. It's enough to make you want to puke, isn't it?
GUS. Who advised her to do a thing like that ? BEN. A girl of eleven running onto the road after killing a cat
GUS. It's unbelievable. BEN. It's down here in black and white. GUS. Incredible.
GUS. I've been wanting to ask you something. BEN. You never used to ask me so many
damn questions. What's come over you? GUS. I've been thinking about the last one.
BEN. What last one? GUS. That girl. I was just
wondering how many times you'd -- GUS. What are you doing, criticizing me? You'll get a swipe round your ear hole
if you don't watch your step. GUS. I was just thinking about that girl, that's all.
She wasn't much to look at, I know, but still.
It was a mess though, wasn't it? What a mess. Honestly,
I can't remember a mess like that one. They don't seem to hold together like men.
A looser texture, like. Didn't she spread, eh?
She didn't half spread. I've been meaning to ask you. Who clears up after we've gone?
I'm curious about that. Who does the clearing up? How many jobs have we done?
Blimey, I can't count. What if they never clear anything up after we've gone.
BEN. You mutt. Do you think we're the only branch of this organization? Have a bit of common. They have departments for everything.
GUS. What cleaners and all?
*Sudden banging noise caused by the dumb waiter*
GUS. Two braised steak and chips. Two sago puddings. Two teas without sugar.
BEN. Let me see that. GUS. It's a bit funny isn't it?
BEN. No. It's not funny. It probably used to be a café here.
These places change hands pretty quickly.
GUS. Soup of the day. Liver and onions. Strawberry tart.
BEN. Quick! What food have you got? GUS. Well I've got some candy.
GUS. Got some candy here. BEN. That's all? GUS. Well I've also got some tea.
BEN. Good good. Put it in. GUS. We can't put the tea in there that's all we've got.
BEN. Wait wait wait wait!
BEN. Aw it went up! GUS. It's all your fault for playing around.
BEN. What will we do now? GUS. We'll just have to wait till it comes down. You better get ready.
BEN. You know the sooner we get out of this place the better. Why doesn't he get in touch!?
I felt like I've been here years. We've never let him down though, have we? Never let him down...
I was only thinking only the other day. We're reliable, aren't we?
I'm still glad, it'll be over tonight. I hope the bloke's not going to get
excited tonight, or anything. I'm feeling a bit off.
I've got a splitting headache.
GUS. One Bamboo Shoots, Water Chestnuts and Chicken. One Char Siu
and Bean sprouts. BEN. Bean sprouts?
GUS. Yeah... BEN. Blimey.
BEN. Look here. We'd better tell them we haven't got it. GUS. All right then
BEN. Lend us your pencil. We'll write them a note.
GUS. What's that?
BEN. It's a speaking tube.
GUS. What's it for? BEN. See that? That's a whistle.
BEN. Yes see that take that out.
GUS. I don't hear anything. BEN. Give me that.
BEN. Good evening I'm sorry to bother you, I just thought we'd better tell you
that we haven't got anything left. We sent up all that we had.
There's no more food down here. What, what?
No all we had we sent up. Well I'm very sorry to hear about that. Yes well I'm very sorry.
GUS. What's the matter with you. You don't look to bright. I feel like an aspirin myself.
BEN. Time's getting on. GUS. I know. I don't like doing a job on an empty stomach.
BEN. Be quiet a minute. Let me give you your instructions.. When the bloke walks in. GUS. When the bloke walks in.
BEN. Shut the door behind him. GUS. Shut the door behind him.
BEN. I take out my gun. GUS. You take out your gun.
BEN. He'll stop in his tracks. GUS. He'll stop in his tracks.
BEN. When he sees you behind him GUS. Me behind him BEN. And me in front of him
GUS. And you in front of him. BEN. He'll feel uncertain
GUS. Uneasy. BEN. He won't know what to do. GUS. So what will he do?
BEN. We'll look at him. GUS. And we'll look at him. BEN. He'll look at us.
GUS. We won't say a word. BEN. Nobody says a word.
GUS. What do we do if it's a girl. BEN. We do the same.
GUS. The same? BEN. Exactly the same.
GUS. What's he playing these games for? That's what I want to know
GUS. What is he doing it for? BEN. What game?
GUS. What's he doing it for? We've been through our tests, haven't we?
GUS. We got right through our tests, years ago, didn't we?
We took them together, don't you remember, didn't we?
We've always done our job. What's he doing all this for?
What's the idea? What's he playing these games for?
GUS. Scampi!
We've got nothing left! Do you understand?
BEN. Give me that! GUS. What!?
BEN. That's enough! I'm warning you GUS. But you heard!
BEN. Where are you going?
GUS. Just going to get some water.
BEN. Yes straight away
Understood. He has arrived and he will be coming in
...straight away. Yes. The normal method to be employed.
Understood.