Pinter Harold

As a child in London, Harold Pinter experienced the Second World War and the Blitz, during which thousands of children were evacuated from the capital. These experiences of fear, displacement and uncertainty would later echo through the threatening and unstable atmosphere of many of his plays.

Post-war Britain underwent profound political and social change. The decline of the British Empire, the Cold War, changing class structures and growing tensions surrounding political authority formed the wider background to Pinter’s development as a writer. During the 1950s and 1960s, British theatre itself was undergoing a revolution, moving away from conventional drawing-room drama toward more experimental forms concerned with alienation, social conflict and the absurd.

In later life, Pinter became increasingly involved in political debate. He strongly opposed Western military interventions and criticized both American and British foreign policy. His political engagement reached a worldwide audience in his 2005 Nobel lecture, Art, Truth & Politics, in which he examined the relationship between language, political power and truth.