Philip Knight, director of The Dumb Waiter.

A double bill of one-act absurdist plays opens the autumn season of East West Theater, one of Shanghai's leading English-language dramatic companies. The two plays, The Dumb Waiter and The Zoo Story present interesting comparisons and contrasts which will both shock and amuse audiences at the same time.

Emotional content

Written in 1957, The Dumb Waiter is one of the masterpieces of Harold Pinter, the 2005 Nobel Laureate. The Zoo Story, by American playwright Edward Albee, was finished just a year later. Both of the plays, starring only two actors, examine issues of isolation, communication and the importance of relationships between people.

"The emotional content of the plays and the tone of the plays complement each other in a very nice way," said Jason Lasky, who plays Ben in The Dumb Waiter and Jerry in The Zoo Story.

The Dumb Waiter tells the story of two hit men, Ben and Gus, who are killing time in a basement while a serving lift or "dumbwaiter" keeps delivering food orders. Finally the instructions they are waiting for arrive, and events take an unexpected turn.

"The story is about two friends, their relationship, loyalty and meaning to each other, and they are all put into question when they are asked to do something that will violate their friendship," said Philip Knight, the director of the play. "The dumbwaiter serves as an agent of chaos and for the audience, as well, as a source of humor. Basically it confuses them, scares them, and makes them wonder what on earth is going on. It also makes things harder for them to communicate easily."

The Zoo Story begins in Central Park, New York when Jerry, a lonely drifter, strikes up a conversation with Peter, who is sitting on a bench. Following a series of misunderstandings their conversation delivers a shock to both Peter and the audience.

"It's a play about human desires," said Exir Kamalabadi, director of The Zoo Story. "The central theme of the story is: are we humans? Or are we animals? What are some of the desires that we have that we share with animals? The city is like a zoo, and we are like domesticated animals that lose our natural habitat, living in a very artificial, boxed environment. And this is making us very dissatisfied with ourselves."

 
Exir Kamalabadi, director of The Zoo Story. Photos: Courtesy of East West Theater

Think more

The two plays were written after World War II when people began to question the meaning of everything, and those questions are still being asked today. As for The Dumb Waiter, Knight hopes the play will provoke audiences to think more. "I hope people will continue to talk about it and ask themselves, what does friendship mean in my life? What does the idea of communication mean to me? Do I mean what I say? And ultimately, do I have what I want in my life? It also questions whether we are free to make our own choices."

Kamalabadi stressed the relevance of The Zoo Story to Shanghai audiences: "Peter's distress comes from the spiritual emptiness he feels, even though  he is a well-fed animal living in a nice home. But he is domesticated. He has to suppress his natural instincts, and society tells him what he can think or do. All big cities are alike whether it's New York or Shanghai. They put pressure on people. This is a universal feeling that all of us share."

The mysterious and scary, yet funny, atmosphere is what attracted Knight to Pinter's play. In directing the work, he found that the story could even be played like an action movie. "The situation they are in is very similar to Terminator, or Predator, or even Pulp Fiction by Quentin Tarantino. You can make comparisons to these movies, and we've been looking through it for inspiration about how to play the story," he said.

"I would like to see these characters played by women," added Lasky. "It would be interesting to see how women approach the roles. But it doesn't matter if the actors are young, old, male or female as everyone is fully capable if they have a certain mind-set."

Date: October 13 to 16, 8 pm; October 15, 2 pm

Venue: Downstream Garage

下河迷仓

Address: 3/F, No.100, Lane 200 Longcao Road  龙漕路200弄100号3楼

Tickets: Free (donations gratefully received)

Call 135-6410-2955 for details