A game of cricket. Two of the greatest playwrights. And maybe even time for some tea.
Before Samuel Beckett became the playwright universally known for Waiting for Godot, he was a cricketer. He is still the only Nobel prize-winner to feature in the pages of Wisden as a first-class player. His friend and fellow Nobel prize-winner, Harold Pinter, whose best known works include The Birthday Party and Betrayal, described cricket as ‘the greatest thing that God created on earth’.
This brilliantly witty new play stars Stephen Tompkinson as Samuel Beckett (Brassed Off, Drop the Dead Donkey, DCI Banks, Wild at Heart) and Andrew Lancel (The Bill, Coronation Street) as Harold Pinter. Stumped gives a wonderful insight into what the friendship between these two great men may have looked like. As well as being a beautiful tribute to their writing, the theatre of the absurd, and of course their love for the game of cricket.
Shomit Dutta is a writer, translator and teacher of Latin and Greek who also reviews books on cricket and the classics. He has been a member of Harold Pinter’s cricket team Gaieties CC for over twenty years and was captain during Pinter’s final years.
Guy Unsworth directs. His credits include The System and Being Mr Wickham. He was also Associate Director on Much Ado About Nothing and Love’s Labour’s Lost (RSC and West End); Spamalot (West End & UK Tour).
“A real treat... see it if you can" The Spectator
“Perfect pitch for lovers of drama and cricket" The Guardian, Mark Lawson
“A delightful play” British Theatre Guide
Stephen Tompkinson, Andrew Lancel