Ottawa Fringe: Pinter Stew a Tired Take on Classic Texts

Harold Pinter is a veritable master of dramatic text; his plays are specific enough to be captivating, yet general enough to be deeply felt across multiple generations of theatregoers. Third Wall’s Pinter Stew is aptly named, an at-times quite jumbled re-hash of Pinter classics. Pinter junkies will be thrilled, while others will find themselves lost, unfortunately. 

Pinter Stew is helmed by John Koensgen, whose specificity and technique make him captivating to watch (even when the narrative doesn’t necessarily feel cohesive within itself). The ensemble as a whole tends to fall into an accent trap, with a standard British that often has distracting lapses into Canadian that seemingly defeat the purpose of employing an accent at all. This is forgivable in moments of intensity and linguistic precision, but feels a glaring error in more disjointed sections.

What makes Pinter Stew feel so flat is unfortunately its gimmick; the production’s Pinter infatuation only really lands if it is shared with its audience. Too-long monologues of strung-together Pinter quotes feel randomly collaged, and dialogue is peppered with distracting non-sequiturs. This is a downfall of the verbatim theatre framework; especially using text from plays that intrinsically already have a narrative assigned to them, the reworking of individual lines feels awkward and forced. 

Pinter Stew is a niche piece of theatre that unfortunately comes with required reading; this does not have to be the case in all verbatim theatre (as we’ve seen this Fringe with No More Secrets). While this piece may benefit from further workshopping and exploration, it feels out of place in this year’s Fringe. Of course, if you are here for all things Pinter, you’re in for a treat, but for a festival that celebrates new, diverse work from vibrant, pertinent voices, Pinter Stew feels like the odd man out. 

Pinter Stew runs through June 23. For full scheduling, visit www.ottawafringe.com/schedule. Pinter Stew is in Venue 1 – Arts Court.