The Dumb Waiter

by Harold Pinter

Adjudication

The festival was adjudicated by Arthur Rochester of the Guild of Drama Adjudicators. Following are some excerpts from his written adjudication of the RATS entry:

“Stage Presentation created the necessary enigmatic sense of time and place.” “The dumb waiter which was necessarily the centrepiece of the set was also well constructed and operated effectively.”

“Direction by Time Sinclair showed a creative approach to the interpretation of the text whilst eschewing any temptation to unwise updating or innovation.”

“Acting by the two cast members was appropriate to the nature of the piece, adopting a natural and believable style and at times successfully conveying raw and distressing emotions.” “Tim Sinclair as Ben brought the necessary amount of edge and charisma to the role.” “Ben Hilder brought a great deal of sympathy to the role of Gus, the under-dog, and created a rounded and convincing characterisation.” “His confident and creative performance made him a strong contender for the award of Best Actor.”

“Dramatic Acheivement by this company was highly effective.” “The highly-developed theatrical expertise demonstrated made them worthy winners of second place in the Festival.”

The marks awarded the production were:

Stage Presentation       Direction       Acting         Dramatic Acheivement        Total
(possible 15)            (possible 35)  (possible 40)       (possible 10)            (possible 100)
        13                           28               32                    8                                  82