The Space in Harold Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter

Written in 1957, staged 3 years later, The Dumb Waiter is one of the early plays of Harold Pinter, a Nobel Prize-winning English playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. The Dumb Waiter is considered as a comedy of menace, characteristic for Pinter, as it uses absurd and a feeling of threat which does not have an obvious source. Pinter was a friend with Samuel Beckett and was visibly influenced by his works. As in his other play The Birthday Party (1958), in The Dumb Waiter, in my opinion, space plays a very important role. Therefore, I am going to proof that spatial imagery is one of the most important features that creates an unusual and thrilling mood of the play.

The Dumb Waiter features only two characters : Gus and Ben. Throughout the whole course of action they stay in one room, which is described in stage directions of the opening scene: “A basement room. Two beds, flat against the back wall. A serving hatch, closed, between the beds. A door to the kitchen and lavatory, left. A door to a passage, right.”. In this non-specific, quite naturalistic cube the characters are waiting for “the job” which is not specified either but from the vague dialogs it appears to be connected with some gang or organization of hit men.

To some extent the room has some symmetrical setting. It is only slightly disturbed on the left by the existence of two doors unless we count the picture of cricket players as an object which balances them. Also speaking tube can balance the newspaper that Ben reads.

Pict.1        Locus of The Dumb Waiter

In the picture I prepared following the stage directions I would like to suggest the symmetry of the room because it would underline the mood of the play. Is would also suggest that Ben and Gus are in the same position with regard to the external world. Then, the locus may suggest their mutual submissive role in the mysterious organization and towards Wilson whose presence, even though off stage, is significant as he is a boss of the two men. Harry Burton’s adaptation[1] suggests placing the beds in the center of the room, and both doors (to lavatory and, kitchen) on left wall. That does not disturb symmetry of the play in any way which underlines the balance between Gus and Ben who are both lower-class criminals. On the other hand, placing the doors left on the back wall would create non-symmetrical setting which could suggest superiority of Ben (which is obvious from the text) whose bed is sat left. Notabene, Gus walks around the room on left. The two doors are on left. Also the closing scene gives vivid stage directions which contradict the two sides of the room :

The lavatory flushes off left. BEN goes quickly to the door, left.

GUS!

The door right opens sharply.

Gus is left on the right side of the  stage which was used rarely. On the other hand, the door opened on right foreshadows danger (outside world) which is in the last scene brought to Gus. Also the last scene by the stage directions draws attention to the fact that Gus is now in danger from both sides : internal and external. Internal which is represented by left side of the room (doors), Ben with the revolver and external represented by right side to which Gus was close during the whole course of action cause his bed is standing right and he is the one who complains about the lack of windows, asking questions about the city they are in etc.

Although Ben says that the room they are in used to be a café’s kitchen the presence of the serving latch is surprising as it is not an usual part of motel rooms. It is a pretext to talk about the owners of the place and other trivial topics. Just as the presence of the kitchen door on left, described in the first stage directions is only an excuse to this part of dialogue about the kettle and repeating this word several times in the play. If the gas and kettle was in the same room there would be no possibility to postpone putting it on and from the authors point of view : to create a sense of absurd and including very petty conversation or remarks. The door to the lavatory and the lavatory existing only in off stage gives the opportunity to change something on stage, only now can Gus go out without actually moving to any other place than this pinteresque closed claustrophobic room setting. Obviously, this presence of the off stage lavatory enables Pinter to add sound to the quite, monotonous  plot. The sound of the toilet which is not flushing arouses tension on the stage. It also highlights the moments of silence between the characters.

Also the city in which the characters are is not significant, they do not even know where are they, which underlines the feeling of uncertainty and threat. Spatium is not that important as a locus and in The Dumb Waiter it is not important at all. It does not matter and has no influence on the course of action. What is more, not defining the town or city (just as not clear time of the play) allows to set this small room of locus whenever and wherever, making it an universal situation that can happen anywhere.

The small room lacks windows so it is probably a bit dark and stuffy (just like the mood of the dialogues).  Gus makes a following remark:

GUS wanders downstage, looks out front, then all about the room.

I wouldn't like to live in this dump. I wouldn't mind if you had a window, you could see what it looked like outside.

BEN. What do you want a window for?

GUS. Well, I like to have a bit of a view, Ben. It whiles away the time.

Knowing that it is a basement, the room immediately brings a claustrophobic atmosphere. It looks like a prison, even though there are doors, the characters are unable to look outside, connect to the outside world. They are also not allowed to leave, until the sign comes.  Such a small area with two adult men waiting for unknown, immediately gives the opportunity to create tension which intensifies gradually. Watching the play, the audience can sympathize with the characters and bring back the moments in their life where they were to wait in a small room, for example at the dentist’s. People usually get stressed, talk about trivial matters (here the toilet which is not flushing) shift from foot to foot, walk around. This is exactly what is going on the stage. Gus is walking around, which we know from the stage directions, finding several objects on the walls. 

The objects that are in the room are hidden from the eyes of audience. They are visible, but not until Gus finds them are they significant. Firstly Bored Gus notices a poster of cricket players “The First Eleven”, then a speaking tube. All those objects hang on the wall, which, in my opinion, is an important fact because it draws the audience’s or intended reader’s attention to the fact, that actually Ben and Gus are closed in a space with four thick  walls.

What I think is, the walls are borders between the characters’ world and the outside world and the objects say a bit about the outside world. That is, the people that precede them. It is also noticeable, that right now, those people are gone and what has happened  - happened in the  past. At one point Gus asks whether the walls are soundproof, which may suggest that whatever has happened in the room – was not revealed to the world: “You ever noticed that? I wonder if the walls are sound-proof. (He touches the wall above his bed.) Can't tell.”

It may suggest intimacy and privacy but it certainly does not. The mood of Pinter’s play makes it obvious that in the basement could have happened something terrifying, it is prison-like, screams would not be heard, neither gunshots, nor struggle or even tortures would be heard. In the same scene, Gus speaks about a mysterious man Wilson, who seems to represent their boss or supervisor. He is a powerful and wealthy man, as he is able to rent the whole house. Following passage after those remarks  increase the feeling that something horrifying might have happened in the room.

The hints on sound-proof walls are also a reference to the title of the play The Dumb Waiter. The room is “dumb”. Victims could never last here long and soon the audience finds out that this is true. Just as the dumb waiter, the room itself is a silent witness of mysterious verdict on Gus in the last scene.

Another passage which draws attention to the walls is included in the stage directions:

 There is a loud clatter and racket in the bulge of wall between the beds, of something descending. They grab their revolvers, jump up and face the wall. The noise comes to a stop. Silence. They look at each other. BEN gestures sharply towards the wall. GUS approaches the wall slowly.

Obviously, the intended reader knows the title of the play  as well as the existence of the serving hatch between the beds. Yet, the action that precedes   this moment deadens audience’s awareness of that. From the silence and monotonous dialogue the audience, therefore,  is awoken  just like the characters. It transpires that the walls do not separate the room from the outside world entirely. There is something on the floor above, and there is someone that sends a piece of paper. The author of SparkNotes’ analysis of The Dumb Waiter suggests that the dumb waiter “serves as a symbol for the broken, one-sided communication between Gus and Ben”[2]. I do not agree with this interpretation. As far as the serving hatch, indeed, divides the room and sets a border between the two character’s beds, the dumb waiter, in my opinion, actually connects the characters. It is a very important element of the stage’s space. It reminds that there is a world outside and that the person or people who send the piece of paper are higher. They are above, they stand for the external life. They may be symbols of power, their existence may imply that  Gus and Ben are puppets, laboratory rats or humans in the hands of  fate or God. But those roles are attached to both : Gus and Ben. Dumb waiter connects them, reminds about their mutual situation, position and boss. It also creates a very interesting vertical dimension. It extends the height of the stage, even if only in the context of off-stage spatium. It also changes the perspective of perceiving Gus and Ben which I am going to elaborate on using an example of modern interpretation of the play.

A review on the play “The Dumb Waiter”  directed by Zeljko Djukic of the TUTA Theatre Chicago in May 2012 gave me the idea to look at the play from reverse perspective. Djukic has invited the audience to look at Gus and Ben from above, as if they were rats in a laboratory. Following this idea I have prepared a picture of the scene viewed from the bird eye perspective. Obviously, in conventional theatre it would be invisible, however – as the example of Djukic shows, it is possible to perform this play in such an unusual dimension. As far as Pinter’s plays are included in the theatre of absurd genre – we cannot exclude this idea that the play will be used in such a way.

This idea is not accidental. In my opinion, Pinter may have thought about this play “from above”. He set the play in basement and the orders come from the first floor. Just like he writes the play “looking down” on the characters, placing them as he wishes. The audience, even during the conventional performance, through non-existing third wall, has  a strong sense of presence  layers, floors of the imaginary building in which the characters are. The dumb waiter is sent from above which means : somebody is there, some master of this particular universe.[3]

To sum up The Dumb Waiter as a play of absurd with very vague situation, with events that are not clear and can be interpreted in many different  is underlined by the space of the play. Unclear setting of the small room in which the characters are gives a universal value to the play. It enables the audience to come closer to the characters’ mind. It creates claustrophobic mood full of tension and not specified danger that is somewhere above, which may break the apparent peacefulness of the stage locus, meaning this small world of the two criminals. Closed in prison-like place they are left alone with themselves, their feelings and uncertainty of existence. Their impatience is growing because the room, never mind how big, is restricted by the walls, limits the characters and exploits their nature and feelings of fear. Regardless the presence of three doors, this is a close space without a way out. People like rats in a laboratory cage are left to be watched (by audience or somebody who sends messages via dumb waiter) and overheard (ex. by Wilson or their supervisors by a speaking-tube).  The mood of the play would not be achieved without setting it in such a space and definitely would not enable recipients to feel the possible emotions of the characters.

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[1] The Dumb Waiter staged  at Trafalgar Studios, London, from 2 February to 24 March 2007 < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUWuuicg10E>, web 08.01.2014

[2]  “ The Dumb Waiter. Themes, Motifs, and Symbol.” SparkNotes,  <http://www.sparknotes.com/drama/dumbwaiter/themes.html> , web access 4.01.2014

[3] Jones ,Chris.  “Pinter's hit men, as viewed from above”. Chicago Tribune, 2012 <http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/theaterloop/ct-ent-0725-dumb-waiter-review-20120724,0,736524.column>, Web access  04.01.2014