Ready Reference Treatise: The Dumb Waiter

By Raja Sharma

But, in the recent years it has been noticed that a very large majority of the students, without reading the original texts, rely on the guide books or notes prepared by their teachers or others. This is definitely not a healthy habit because students do pass their exams with the help of such notes; they miss so many things which haunt them in their later lives.

I would strongly advise all the students to read the original text once again even if you have already read it, after reading this short treatise. You will see that the same story, after reading this treatise, will begin to give many new meanings to you.

All the best.

Raja Sharma

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raja Sharma
• Release date: Jun 11, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476390703

Raja Sharma

Raja Sharma is a retired college lecturer.He has taught English Literature to University students for more than two decades.His students are scattered all over the world, and it is noticeable that he is in contact with more than ninety thousand of his students.

Book preview

Ready Reference Treatise: The Dumb Waiter

Raja Sharma

Copyright@2012 Raja Sharma

Smashwords Edition

All Rights Reserved

Chapter 1: Introduction

Harold Pinter is regarded as one of the most acclaimed British writers. The plays written by Pinter are famous all over the world. He is specially noted for his early body of works. Harold Pinter was born in a working class family in East London’s Hackney. Born in the year 1930, Harold Pinter was the son of a Jewish tailor.

When the Second World War broke out, Pinter evacuated to Cornwall, England, in the year 1939. He finally came back to London at the age of fourteen. During his years at the grammar school, Pinter started acting in plays, and from his grammar school he received a grant to study at London's prestigious Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. Harold Pinter spent two years there and finally left the school. During 1950s, Pinter spent most of his time writing poetry. He wrote under the name of Harold Pinter but at the same time he was acting in a local theater under the pseudonym David Baron.

The Room was his first play and it is said that he wrote his this very first play in just four days. It was a sure sign of the prolific output to come in the following years. His first produced play was The Birthday Party. It was writer one year after The Room. The play The Birthday Party was not received well by the audiences and it was closed within one week. Harold Pinter did not get discouraged. In the year 1960, Harold Pinter wrote his full length play titled The Caretaker. This play was widely accepted by the audiences and the critics and it won more accolades.

In the same year, his other play The Dumb Waiter was staged. This play established Harold Pinter as a well known contemporary British Playwright and a major theatrical figure. Harold Pinter’s efforts were not only limited to writing his plays, he often directed and sometimes acted in his plays. His popularity continued to grow. In the 1960s and 1970s his plays were played on radio and shown on television. His plays began to be made into films.

Harold Pinter stopped writing full length plays in the year 1978 and his did not write any full length play until the year 1994, though he did not stop writing shorter plays. He also adapted the works of other writers for the stage and for the screen.

Harold Pinter was never in favour of war and he objected to the war. The Royal Academy fined him for his political views when he was eighteen. The fine did not deter him, instead he was more motivated to show his political views both in his plays