Dumb hitmen still pack punch

01 March 2007

Jason Isaacs and Lee Evans in Dumb Waiter

THE DUMB WAITER - TRAFALGAR STUDIOS

IN AN airless basement room, two killers await confirmation of the identity of their next "hit".

Gus and Ben are a team from way back, but today something has disturbed their normally efficient routine.

Unseen forces seem to be bearing down on them in their precarious and darkly funny world. Meanwhile, increasingly bizarre orders keep arriving via a serving hatch...

You have entered the strange, menacing world of Harold Pinter's The Dumb Waiter.

A multi-award-winning playwright, screenwriter, director, political activist and actor, east Londoner Pinter is a name long remembered by any drama and English students of the past 40 years for his groundbreaking work like The Caretaker, The Birthday Party and, of course, Dumb Waiter.

New life has been breathed into the latter through the latest production at Trafalgar Studios, starring Lee Evans and Jason Isaacs.

And it remains as powerful a piece of theatre as when first premiered at Hampstead Theatre Club in 1960.

Essex boy Evans plays Gus, following his return to the theatre in 2004 after making his name in a variety of Hollywood roles.

And the usually irritating (to me, at least) rubber-faced comedian makes a surprisingly good fist of such a challenging, straight role - although, as with all Pinter, there is a lot of dark humour to be found as well.

But it is Isaacs who dominates proceedings as Ben. Soon to return to our screens as Lucius Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Isaacs oozes power, passion and menace.

The Dumb Waiter runs until March 24. Performances are Monday to Saturday at 7.45pm, with Wednesday and Saturday matinees at 3.30pm

Tickets from the box office on 0870 060 6632.