The Collection (play)

The Collection (play)

"The Collection" is a 1961 play by Harold Pinter. The play is a four-hander showing two couples, James and Stella and Harry and Bill. It is a comedy, laced with typical Pinter uncertainty and danger, about whether or not Stella and Bill had a one-night stand while away on business in Leeds. (Naturally we never know for sure).

The Collection takes place on a divided stage, shared by a house in London's Belgravia and a flat in Chelsea. In the house live Harry, an older man, and Bill, a young dress designer. One night the life of Harry and Bill is distorted by an anonymous phone call, followed by a visit from a young man who refuses to leave his name. The visitor turns out to be James, owner of the flat where he lives with his wife, Stella, a decorative model, who has confessed to her husband that she had a one-night affair with Bill. James is obsessed with a desire to meet the man who had cuckolded him and when he does, a weird attraction-repulsion arise between the two young men. Harry discovers what is going on and in the end casts doubt on whether the affair ever took place and thereby reestablishes an uneasy status quo.

*First presented by the Royal Shakespeare Company, Aldwych Theatre, London, 18 June 1962
**Harry - Michael Hordern
**James - Kenneth Haigh
**Stella - Barbara Murray
**Bill - John Ronane

*UK Independent Television 1976
**Harry - Laurence Olivier
**James - Alan Bates
**Stella - Helen Mirren
**Bill - Malcolm McDowell

*Donmar Warehouse June 1998
**Harry - Harold Pinter
**James - Douglas Hodge
**Stella - Lia Williams
**Bill - Colin McFarlane

*Comedy Theatre, London, January/February 2008
**Harry - Timothy West
**James - Richard Coyle
**Stella - Gina McKee
**Bill - Charlie Cox


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