non-verbal elements to 'let the audience in' and enlighten them on what is.
happening on the stage and the results and reasons for and behind actions.
Pinter disrupts this tradition and this in itself would have been a.
disturbing phenomena to the conservative audiences of post-war Britain.
Mick's arrival on stage generates unease within the audience and the.
tension would only increase as Pinter provides the audience with no.
explanation for him being there. Mick leaves the stage in a state of.
maintained silence, hence the first images presented in the play confront.
many of the assumptions of a traditional theatrical experience. Mick is.
alone in the room, sitting on the bed. He wears a leather jacket. He.
slowly looks about the room, looking at each object in turn. He looks up.
at the ceiling, and stares at the bucket. Silence for thirty seconds.
Mick turns his head. He stands, moves silently to the door, goes out, and.
closes the door quietly. It is not until the Act two that this.
character becomes known to the audience as Mick. This deferral of.
information is quite confrontational as it opposes accepted and.
naturalised preconceptions of power and right. Mick's position on the bed.
and his costuming - wearing a leather jacket places him in the.
traditionally accepted position of power. However this idea is.
problematised when Mick leaves the room and Aston enters with the key,.
thus demonstrating the illusory and ambiguous nature of power. Mick not.
re-entering until later in the play confronts traditional notion that as.
he was introduced first, he is in a position of power. The opening scene.
defamiliarises the Audience with traditional notions of power and.
establishes a precedent for the remainder of the play. Pinter does not.
adhere to the accepted use of dramatic conventions. There is no.
traditional relation of character histories within the opening scenes and.
lack of revelation is maintained throughout the play as relatively little.
