The birthday party and the room: two plays - harold pinter

In The Birthday Party , a musician escapes to a dilapidated boarding house, where he falls victim to the shadowy, ritualized violence of two men who have followed him from his sinister past.

In The Room , a derelict boarding house again becomes the scene of a visitation from the past when a blind man suddenly arrives to deliver a mysterious message.

Both plays are invested with the elements that make Pinters work unique: the disturbing familiarity of the dialogue, the subtle characterization, and the abrupt mood and power shifts among the characters, which can be by turns terrifying, moving, and wildly funny.