‘What came first, the chicken or the egg?!!’

This line of interrogation provides an element of a number of surprises delivered by a pair of possible gangsters in Noble prize-winner Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party.  Harold Pinter’s thought-provoking work and style inspired many famous playwrights as well as greats in film and television.  For example, it is rumored that Quentin Tarantino, inspired by Harold Pinter, patterned gangsters Samuel L. Jackson’s Jules Winnfield and John Travolta’s Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction and their absurdist style of dialogue to Goldberg and McCann in The Birthday Party.  The art of the chicken and the egg conversation to a dialogue about a Royal with Cheese gets curiouser and curiouser.

Keenly directed by James Wilkinson, Praxis Stage presented Harold Pinter’s comedy of menace The Birthday Party live and in person at Chelsea Theatre Works in Chelsea, Massachusetts through Sunday, April 28.  Click here for more information.

Taking place exclusively in a seaside boarding house, The Birthday Party focuses on unassuming Petey, depicted with an air of laidback serenity by Paul Valley, his anxious and chatty wife Meg, portrayed with tightly wound cheerfulness by Sharon Mason as well as boarder and unemployed pianist Stanley in an impressively mercurial performance by Zair Silva.  With Petey and Stanley’s mixed participation, Meg navigates her daily routines at the boarding house with a plastered smile and a meticulous, yet monotonous zeal.  However, a monkey wrench is thrown into the equation when two mysterious guests named Goldberg and McCann suddenly rent a room and everyone anticipates their imminent arrival while Stanley instantly feels a sense of doom. 

Make no mistake, The Birthday Party is indeed about a birthday party which is a joyous occasion celebrating a milestone, but what if it is also merely an annual ritual done on any given day in which one is expected to celebrate? 

The Birthday Party may render you speechless, a bit disoriented and frustrated, yet you will find yourself invested in this peculiar production’s motivations and outcomes.  This dark comedy examines human nature from a Noble prize-winning playwright’s absurdist perspective leaving much to interpretation.   Pinter shakes up each character’s expectations and was known to loath explaining his craft and or his characters’ real motivations.

This gripping cast is more than up to the challenges this complicated show offers with quick witted timing as moods and situations change on a dime often with breakneck speed.  Mason’s Meg instinctive caretaking habits build a warm rapport with Petey while she shares a bizarre maternal affinity toward Stanley with the exception of a scene using the unnerving word, ‘succulent.’  Beautiful Darya Denisova as adventurous and flirtatious Lulu has ideas of her own.

Daniel Boudreau as Goldberg and Kevin Paquette as McCann make an intriguing, focused and stealthy pair.  An avid and smooth storyteller, Boudreau is a natural as Goldberg, swaggering with unmitigated charm and authority while brawny McCann is a sly sidekick.  Whether they are deliberate and threatening or schmoosing with feigned gallantry, each of Goldberg and McCann’s movements keeps the audience guessing.  Some of the most intense and challenging sequences occur between Silva, Boudreau and Paquette demonstrating a rollercoaster of emotions that will leave you at the edge of your seat with questions left unanswered.

The Birthday Party is shrewd, shocking, and suspenseful, even over what seems like the ridiculous.  More often than not, Pinter’s work is not what it seems and reality is often blurred. However, order, chaos, and delusion all play massive roles in this cast of ambiguous characters.  Where there is warmth, there is order.  Where there is panic, there is chaos and where there is delusion, compassion creeps in. 

Keenly directed by James Wilkinson, Praxis Stage presented The Birthday Party, a comedy of menace, live and in person at Chelsea Theatre Works in Chelsea, Massachusetts through Sunday, April 28.  Click here for more information.