A wild, impudent and blisteringly funny look at a government-run mental institution in which the wardens may be madder than the inmates. Under a veil of devilish wit and subversive humor, Harold Pinter’s biting political commentary on the perils of unchecked power is as vital and pertinent today as when he first wrote it. Nike Doukas directs a fully partner-cast production. Jan 18 – March 11; $15-$34; Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center, 110 East Broadway, Glendale, CA 91205; (818) 506-1983 or www.antaeus.org.
The Hothouse
Critics
LemonMeter
Reviews: 13
Reviews
Director Nike Doukas has guided her talented cast into finding their inner madmen and demons and letting their freak flag fly. It is a very dark and disturbing comedy and a rare bit of theatrical history to see this early and seldom produced piece of Pinter. The Hothouse turns out to be a true madhouse.
The shock in the early Pinter masterpieces is his introduction of a subtle menace creeping into suburban living rooms and bedrooms. The absurdist elements and hotly pitched verbal battlegrounds Pinter revels in are jarring in a conventional setting. In a madhouse, they feel almost expected. Pinter has always used a uniquely sly humor. In Hothouse, one sees him exercising a more overtly comic style. He goes so far as to employ his own variant on a “spit take.”
By far and large, Hot House, directed by Nike Doukas (Read the Director's Note), is Antaeus Theatre Company's greatest theatrical accomplishment since opening The Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center in Glendale. And when we say, perfect, it is most definitely NOT an understatement. Each and every sentence, every word, down to the inflections, every stage direction, lighting cue, sound cue, use of a prop, body movement and emotional register by the actors was, in a word, dazzling.
Is THE HOTHOUSE a comic tragedy or a tragic comedy? Director Nike Doukas delivers the answer with skill, pulling no punches when defining the weaknesses of “the system,” but also eking out every chuckle inherent in the piece. Doukas walks the fine line between laughter and tears with the able assistance of a talented cast. Each actor makes the role his own, exuding an intriguing sincerity while navigating these absurd waters. These are unbelievable people who become all too real.
[The actors are] SUPERB… when it comes to gifted performers, Antaeus has an embarrassment of riches… with director Nike Doukas the sure hand at the helm, unearthing plentiful humor in the text.
The Antaeus Theatre Company has a long standing and well-deserved reputation for delivering at the peak of the art and The Hothouse is no exception.
Pinter aficionados especially should come to see The Hothouse at Antaeus because it is so infrequently produced — but all theatre lovers should buy tickets because it is an outstanding and entertaining production. - Recommended
Director Nike Doukas keeps things moving at an admirable pace. The staging is always effective, as is Se Hyun Oh's scenic design, Ginevra Lombardo's lighting design, and Jeff Gardner's sound design. Yet I wish Doukas had taken Pinter's acidity and anger a step further in some places, more in line with the tone that I'm given to understand Pinter intended.
The performances, under the inspired direction of Nike Doukas, are marvelous, crisp and tight, finding laughs where they are to be had, and pathos, what little there is, when it can be shown. The play is British and the dialect work, coached by Lauren Lovett-Cohen, is to my ear, flawless.
...when you go to see Harold Pinter's The Hothouse, and I highly recommend that you do so… or any of the other productions scheduled for this season at Antaeus, you will find yourself in the company of well trained professionals who love living theatre.. both in the audience and on the stage.
It suffers from referencing more compelling storylines that are happening offstage, while going in circles in uneventful, overwritten scenes onstage. Unless this very specific style of humor happens to suit your sensibilities, you may find yourself wondering if Pinter's initial instinct to leave this one in the drawer was correct.
We never see any of the patients of this institution, although from time to time we and the characters on stage do hear strange groans and moans—which may be sounds from the residents on the floors above (treatment? illness? nightmares?), or charitably may be the characters' conscience calling to them. In any case, the patients are known to the staff only by number, and as we soon learn during the course of the action on one Christmas Day, a couple of them have just undergone major life transitions: Patient 6457 has mysteriously died, while Patient 6459 has given birth to a baby boy, an unmistakable echo of the outcast child born twenty centuries earlier and celebrated on this day.... The acting is ace, the material challenging, the production rare.
It may be his more celebrated plays (The Birthday Party, Betrayal, and The Homecoming among them) or his equally acclaimed screenplays (The Servant, The Go-Between, Sleuth, and more) that brought Harold Pinter fame and fortune, but it's a little-known Pinter that makes a visit to Antaeus a must. Expect Hothouse tickets to be selling like hotcakes.
Director Nike Doukas has guided her talented cast into finding their inner madmen and demons and letting their freak flag fly. It is a very dark and disturbing comedy and a rare bit of theatrical history to see this early and seldom produced piece of Pinter. The Hothouse turns out to be a true madhouse.
The shock in the early Pinter masterpieces is his introduction of a subtle menace creeping into suburban living rooms and bedrooms. The absurdist elements and hotly pitched verbal battlegrounds Pinter revels in are jarring in a conventional setting. In a madhouse, they feel almost expected. Pinter has always used a uniquely sly humor. In Hothouse, one sees him exercising a more overtly comic style. He goes so far as to employ his own variant on a “spit take.”
By far and large, Hot House, directed by Nike Doukas (Read the Director's Note), is Antaeus Theatre Company's greatest theatrical accomplishment since opening The Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center in Glendale. And when we say, perfect, it is most definitely NOT an understatement. Each and every sentence, every word, down to the inflections, every stage direction, lighting cue, sound cue, use of a prop, body movement and emotional register by the actors was, in a word, dazzling.
Is THE HOTHOUSE a comic tragedy or a tragic comedy? Director Nike Doukas delivers the answer with skill, pulling no punches when defining the weaknesses of “the system,” but also eking out every chuckle inherent in the piece. Doukas walks the fine line between laughter and tears with the able assistance of a talented cast. Each actor makes the role his own, exuding an intriguing sincerity while navigating these absurd waters. These are unbelievable people who become all too real.
[The actors are] SUPERB… when it comes to gifted performers, Antaeus has an embarrassment of riches… with director Nike Doukas the sure hand at the helm, unearthing plentiful humor in the text.
The Antaeus Theatre Company has a long standing and well-deserved reputation for delivering at the peak of the art and The Hothouse is no exception.
Pinter aficionados especially should come to see The Hothouse at Antaeus because it is so infrequently produced — but all theatre lovers should buy tickets because it is an outstanding and entertaining production. - Recommended
Director Nike Doukas keeps things moving at an admirable pace. The staging is always effective, as is Se Hyun Oh's scenic design, Ginevra Lombardo's lighting design, and Jeff Gardner's sound design. Yet I wish Doukas had taken Pinter's acidity and anger a step further in some places, more in line with the tone that I'm given to understand Pinter intended.
The performances, under the inspired direction of Nike Doukas, are marvelous, crisp and tight, finding laughs where they are to be had, and pathos, what little there is, when it can be shown. The play is British and the dialect work, coached by Lauren Lovett-Cohen, is to my ear, flawless.
...when you go to see Harold Pinter's The Hothouse, and I highly recommend that you do so… or any of the other productions scheduled for this season at Antaeus, you will find yourself in the company of well trained professionals who love living theatre.. both in the audience and on the stage.
It suffers from referencing more compelling storylines that are happening offstage, while going in circles in uneventful, overwritten scenes onstage. Unless this very specific style of humor happens to suit your sensibilities, you may find yourself wondering if Pinter's initial instinct to leave this one in the drawer was correct.
We never see any of the patients of this institution, although from time to time we and the characters on stage do hear strange groans and moans—which may be sounds from the residents on the floors above (treatment? illness? nightmares?), or charitably may be the characters' conscience calling to them. In any case, the patients are known to the staff only by number, and as we soon learn during the course of the action on one Christmas Day, a couple of them have just undergone major life transitions: Patient 6457 has mysteriously died, while Patient 6459 has given birth to a baby boy, an unmistakable echo of the outcast child born twenty centuries earlier and celebrated on this day.... The acting is ace, the material challenging, the production rare.
It may be his more celebrated plays (The Birthday Party, Betrayal, and The Homecoming among them) or his equally acclaimed screenplays (The Servant, The Go-Between, Sleuth, and more) that brought Harold Pinter fame and fortune, but it's a little-known Pinter that makes a visit to Antaeus a must. Expect Hothouse tickets to be selling like hotcakes.