English drama the stage. Again In the 1950s, the absurdist play "Waiting for Godot" (1955) (originally "En attendant Godot", 1952), by the French resident, Irishman Samuel Beckett profoundly affected British drama. The Theatre of the Absurd influenced Harold Pinter (1930-2008), (The Birthday Party, 1958), whose works are often characterised by menace or claustrophobia. Beckett also influenced Tom Stoppard (1937-) ("Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead",1966). Stoppard's works are, however, also notable for their high-spirited wit and the great range of intellectual issues which he tackles in different plays. Both Pinter and Stoppard continued to have new plays produced into the 1990s. Michael Frayn
Silence (1969 play) Silence (1969 play) Silence is a short play by Harold Pinter first performed in 1969. The première was given by the Royal Shakespeare Company in London on 2 July 1969, directed by Peter Hall. The cast was: The American première was given in 1970 by the Repertory Theater of Lincoln Center, with Barbara Tarbuck, Robert Symonds and James Patterson, directed by Peter Gill. In the introduction to the first volume of his "Complete Plays", Pinter wrote: There are two silences. One when no word is spoken. The other when perhaps a torrent of language is being employed. This speech is