But in his plays, as the Old Vic’s production of “The Dumb Waiter” bore out, Pinter let his art do the talking. AdvertisementIn “The Dumb Waiter,” an early one-act that premiered in 1960, Pinter is still honing what will become his trademark style. Here, the outside menacingly makes itself known through a disused dumb waiter. “The Dumb Waiter” lampoons the subservience to authoritarian power by focusing on the behavior of the stooges. AdvertisementPinter would more fully realize his dramatic vision in “The Caretaker” and “The Homecoming,” but “The Dumb Waiter” is more than a sketch.

Source: Los Angeles Times July 12, 2021 22:52 UTC