This is not Pinter at his finest, well, not at his finest and most consistent. The story is one of a retired Civil Servant being nursed on his deathbed by his long suffering wife, his two sons who refuse to come to say goodbye and the ghost of a daughter who he still thinks will come with his non-existant grandchildren. Old friends of the couple also appear to hint at parts of the back story of the couple. As often happens with Pinter we are not actually told what has happened or what is going on, we are just given occasional glimpses, like part overhead conversations, from which we all try and piece together what story works for us. The problem is that, although the father/mother relationship is beautifully written much of the remaining dialogue is all fireworks without substance - Pinter parodying himself or perhaps simply not spending enough time on the piece.
Having said all that, I absolutely loved this production. David Bradley and Deborah Findlay are superb as the mother and father, so truthful, funny and vicious. Liam Garrigan and Daniel Mays do a great job in difficult circumstances trying to make the sons seem real in the face of some trully odd dialogue. Carol Royle and Paul Shelley as the friends and Lisa Diveney as "the ghost daughter" have very little to work with but somehow manage to create credible characters regardless.
Some have asked why such a play should be revived at all - I think that this production answers that question, for all its flaws this was,for me, a deeply satisfying production
