SOURCE: Edelman, Charles. “Pinter's The Birthday Party.” Explicator 52, no. 3 (spring 1994): 176-79.

In the following essay, Edelman explicates a one-line reference to the game of cricket in Pinter's The Birthday Party.

Goldberg and McCann's interrogation of Stanley, in Harold Pinter's first full-length work, The Birthday Party, is to many an exemplar of what came to be called the comedy of menace. Within a ferocious few minutes of stage time, Stanley is subjected to a bombardment of accusations and questions:

I'm telling you, Webber. You're a washout. Why are you getting on everybody's wick? … When did you last wash up a cup? … Why did you kill your wife? … There's no juice in you. You're nothing but an odour.¹

As if this were not sufficient, Stanley must also give an opinion on eternal philosophical matters, from “Is the number 846 possible or necessary?” to “Why did the chicken cross the road?” Of...