Sex and Death

I spent a night with Harold Pinter with Off Broadway West Theatre Company’s production of his two short plays, The Dumb Waiter and The Lover.  I saw sex, death, and a whole lot of talent contained in two hours, and the adorably cozy hole-in-the-wall Phoenix Theater in San Francisco.  Afterwards, I caught up with Cecilia Palmtag, director of The Lover, for her take on this theme…

I’m assuming the title “Sex and Death” refers to the two plays, “The Lover” and “The Dumb Waiter”, respectively.  Why did Off Broadway West choose to pair these two pieces?

For a few reasons. They are both from Harold Pinter’s earlier period of writing.  They share (to varying degrees) an absurdist bent, and thematically we chose them because of their contrasting subjects, though Pinter deals with power in almost every one of his works.

The Lover being an example of relatively positive human relating, and The Dumbwaiter is a venture into dangerously dissociative relating and power dynamics that are at the core of alienation and sociopathic behavior.  It can also be seen as a purgatory of sorts for Gus who is having a crisis of conscience, and also a purgatory for Ben who has to come to terms with murdering one of the only people he has any human connection with.

Sex being at the beginning of the life cycle, and death the end.  We are looking at an old way of relating (The Dumbwaiter) to our fellow human, and a positive alternative in The Lover.

Might Pinter’s approach to death lend insight or inspiration for the SevenPonds reader?

He placed the work of relating into the audience member’s lap.  One often has a sense that effective action can (and needs to) be taken after witnessing the actions of his characters onstage.  His work gives an immediacy to the struggles of the modern individual.  In framing the issues of David and Goliath with care and articulation, he incites the passionate audience member to live with a sense of immediacy and a keen vigilance.

As an actor and director, what is most important or unique about your understanding of death?

I have had the double edged gift of intimate and diverse exposure to death.  The suicide of a friend at 19 and the death of my father at 51 have upset any traditional notion of a tidy chronologically ordered march of death.  It’s a gift to be aware of life’s impermanence and a source of courage to live life fully while there is an opportunity.  In surviving the loss of my father it also uprooted the false notion that any thing has significance relative to the people we love.

"The Lover" from Off Broadway West

Off Broadway West Theatre Company presents Sex and Death – a night with Harold Pinter, running through March 26 at the Phoenix Theatre.  Buy your tickets here.

Off Broadway West Theatre Company was established in 2006 by a group of theatre professionals who decided to make a difference with the stories they tell.

Cecilia Palmtag, a San Francisco based theater artist, is a company member at Off Broadway West, an associate at Velocity Circus, and is cast in Ragged Wing Ensemble’s Blue Beard Project.  She graduated from San Francisco State University with honors in 2008 and studied with the Moscow Art Theater last summer in Cambridge Massachusetts at the Stanislavski Summer School.