''Landscape'' is a

one-act play A one-act play is a play that has only one act, as distinct from plays that occur over several acts. One-act plays may consist of one or more scenes. The 20-40 minute play has emerged as a popular subgenre of the one-act play, especially in writi ...

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A List of Nobel laureates in Literature, Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramat ...

that was first broadcast on radio in 1968 and first performed on stage in 1969. The play shows the difficulties of communication between two people in a marriage. This is illustrated through the two characters who appear to be talking to one another though neither seems to hear the other. The dialogue resembles two independent

monologue In theatre, a monologue (also known as monolog in North American English) (in , from μόνος ''mónos'', "alone, solitary" and λόγος ''lógos'', "speech") is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts ...

s. The play is often studied, read, and performed alongside ''

Silence Silence is the absence of ambient hearing, audible sound, the emission of sounds of such low sound intensity, intensity that they do not draw attention to themselves, or the state of having ceased to produce sounds; this latter sense can be exten ...

'', another one-act play published soon after ''Landscape''. Both plays mark a change in Pinter's style, with echoes of the work of

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish writer of novels, plays, short stories, and poems. Writing in both English and French, his literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal, and Tragicomedy, tra ...

.''The Guardian'' 11 January 2008
/ref> In both plays nothing happens, the action of the plays is brought to a halt putting an added emphasis on the role of the dialogues and monologues that take place. As one critic put it "nothing happens but much is explored".

Setting

The play is

set Set, The Set, SET or SETS may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Mathematics *Set (mathematics), a collection of elements *Category of sets, the category whose objects and morphisms are sets and total functions, respectively Electro ...

in the kitchen of a country house. The

design A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...

is minimalist in nature, consisting of a few kitchen appliances and a long kitchen table. Beth sits in an armchair to the left of the table, and Duff in a chair at the opposite end.Pinter, p. 175

Plot

There is virtually no plot to the play. The focus is on the interaction, or lack of it, between the two characters. The text requires that "Duff refers normally to Beth but does not appear to hear her voice" and "Beth never looks at Duff and does not appear to hear his voice. Both characters are relaxed, in no sense rigid." What plot there is exists only in the stories told by the characters. Beth reminisces to herself of a past romantic episode, whether with Duff or another man is not made clear. Duff talks of more practical matters, and finally has a short outburst of anger, evidently in frustration. Beth continues her romantic reverie as the play ends.

Production history

''Landscape'' was written for the stage, but the official theatre censor, the

Lord Chamberlain The Lord Chamberlain of the Household is the most senior officer of the Royal Households of the United Kingdom, Royal Household of the United Kingdom, supervising the departments which support and provide advice to the Monarchy of the United Ki ...

, refused it a licence unless Pinter removed its strong language. The official report read: "The nearer to Beckett, the more portentous Pinter gets. This is a long one-act play without any plot or development ... a lot of useless information about the treatment of beer ... And of course, there have to be the ornamental indecencies." Pinter declined to change his text. The play was first presented as a

radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...

broadcast on

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

on 25 April 1968, with

Peggy Ashcroft Dame Edith Margaret Emily "Peggy" Ashcroft (22 December 1907 – 14 June 1991) was an English actress whose career spanned more than 60 years. Born to a comfortable middle-class family, Ashcroft was determined from an early age to become ...

as Beth and

Eric Porter Eric Richard Porter (8 April 192815 May 1995) was an English actor of stage, film and television. Early life Porter was born in Shepherd's Bush, London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdo ...

as Duff.Pinter, p. 174 Theatre censorship in Britain was abolished that same year and ''Landscape'' was staged by the

Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and opens around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, Stratf ...

in London on 2 July 1969 with Ashcroft as Beth and David Waller as Duff, directed by Peter Hall. A film was made of the Peter Hall production with Ashcroft and Waller; it is currently available on DVD from Films Media Group of Princeton, New Jersey. The play was produced at the

Royal National Theatre The National Theatre (NT), officially the Royal National Theatre and sometimes referred to in international contexts as the National Theatre of Great Britain, is a performing arts venue and associated theatre company located in London, England, ...

in November 1994 with Penelope Wilton as Beth and

Ian Holm Sir Ian Holm Cuthbert (12 September 1931 – 19 June 2020) was an English actor. After graduating from RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) and beginning his career on the British stage as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he became a ...

as Duff, directed by the author. This production was also broadcast on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

in 1995. The National Theatre revived the play in 2008 with Clare Higgins and

Simon Russell Beale Sir Simon Russell Beale (born 12 January 1961) is an English actor. He has been described by ''The Independent'' as "the greatest stage actor of his generation". He has received various accolades, including two BAFTA Awards, three Olivier Awar ...

. A third radio version was broadcast by the BBC in May 2008 with Wilton again as Beth and the author playing Duff.britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk

Notes

Sources

*Gale Steven H. 1996. ''Encyclopedia of British Humorists: Geoffrey Chaucer to John Cleese''. London: Taylor & Francis. . *Pinter, Harold. 1978. ''Plays: Three''. London: Methuen. . {{Pinter 1969 plays Plays by Harold Pinter One-act plays