One of Harold Pinter’s earliest pauses has been found. The pause, probably dated 1959 was discovered at the British Library and is one of the earliest examples of the playwright’s trademark dialogue.
Jeremy Sandersfield of the British Library said “It’s extraordinary.....quite extraordinary and exciting. That wasn’t the pause by the way. Just then, when I paused after the word ‘extraordinary.’ That was my, rather run-of-the-mill pause. No, the Pinter pause we have discovered is much longer and has a hint of throat-clearance – typical early Pinter – about a third of the way through. It’s going to be on show in the Library foyer, so people can, er, pause and enjoy it."
London’s Comedy Theatre – so long associated with Pinter’s work – is to be renamed the Harold Pinter……Theatre.
