The Homecoming

The Homecoming
Play by Harold Pinter
March 20, 2008
Last row, orch.

Two weeks later and I still haven't figured out what I thought about this. I take time to process things, but this is ridiculous. Read the play in advance, thought, 'I have to see this with actors because it's so weird just written down'.

Saw it with actors.

Still stuck.

Plot: Brother comes home with "new" wife of several years. Surprises other brothers and dad. Brothers/Wife seduce each other. Dad wants in on the action. Isn't invited. First brother heads home. Wife stays. Brothers and Dad suggest she can earn her keep as a prostitute. Wife gives Mysterious Look that may imply she's taking advantage of them. Dad gets upset. The End.

The whole thing feels like a massive caricature, added by the over-the-top British accents of varying 'class' systems. I have no prior experience with this play at all and I wish that I did because I didn't know if I was supposed to take them seriously or go with my instinct and treat it as a farce.

Probably would not have seen it if not for Raul Esparza being in it. From reading the play his character comes off as a rapist lout, but onstage, Raul seemed to imply that the guy was making up all of his exploits--everything out of his mouth (concerning women) was a lie--the sexiest scene was when he watched his brother Joe seduce brother Teddy's wife (or vice versa). Then again, this is the guy who turned touching a tuba into a sexual revelation in Company last year. I've decided that he was playing Lenny as a repressed homosexual, so repressed he doesn't even know it. I don't know if this is what Raul was going for or not, but I'm sure that whatever he was going for, he put a lot of work into it, because whatever the heck he's doing, it's consistent.

I am definitely lacking in the background necessary to decide my feelings on this. I know, that's terrible, one should go with a 'gut' instinct, but here my 'gut' is telling me to get a good grounding in the history and intention of this play. Or, as a fellow theater goer said, "And you thought your family was messed up..."