The Birthday Party

2012

with Darien Takle, Kevin Wilson, Joseph Rye, Fern Sutherland, Michael Lawrence, Jonathan Allen
directed by Raymond Hawthorne
design by John Parker
lighting by Michael Craven

"At first glance, the John Parker set for this excellent (potent pause) production looks merely 1950’s realist. However-fittingly for a Harold Pinter play-not all is as it seems..."

"Pinter's language and clever nuances are well served by a first rate cast-including Michael Lawrence, Darien Takle and Fern Sutherland and accomplished direction by Raymond Hawthorne, who first directed the play 50 years ago..." - NZ Herald

This is a play of shadowy emotions and events. There are social and political metaphors here about the state, terriosm, the insidious creep of organized crime or the alienation of individuals in society.
But it is the emotional charges throughout the play, ranging from comic to the tragic which make the work provoking and riveting.
To make this happen needs a cast of superior talent and director Raymond Hawthorne has assembled actors who create a real sense of comic menace... - National Business Review