The Stage

Exclusive: West End theatre renamed in honour of Harold Pinter

Published Wednesday 7 September 2011 at 16:30 by Alistair Smith

The Comedy Theatre in London is to be renamed The Harold Pinter Theatre in honour of the late playwright, The Stage can reveal.

Operated by the Ambassador Theatre Group, the venue recently hosted a revival of Pinter’s Betrayal, which closed on August 20. The theatre will be renamed in honour of the Nobel Prize-winning writer in time for the opening of its next production - Death and the Maiden by Ariel Dorfman - which begins previews on October 13.

The theatre, which is located on Panton Street and originally opened in 1881, has previously played host to a number of Pinter’s works. The Homecoming, No Man’s Land, Moonlight, The Hothouse, The Lover, The Collection and The Caretaker (twice) have all been staged there, while Pinter also directed Otherwise Engaged, Twelve Angry Men and The Old Masters at the venue.

ATG joint chief executive Rosemary Squire told The Stage: “It had been something that Howard [Panter, ATG’s joint chief executive] and I and our co-directors had been talking about for a little time, because, obviously, Harold has been so associated with the Comedy. It just seemed that after the beautiful production of Betrayal and talking to Lady Antonia [Pinter’s widow] after the opening of that show, it just struck us that now was the moment to make the announcement. The producers of Death and the Maiden are very excited about it, particularly because of the close relationship between Ariel Dorfman and Harold Pinter.”

Dorfman’s English translation of Death and the Maiden is dedicated to Pinter.

The Comedy is currently closed for six weeks of planned maintenance, and ATG will use this short dark period to make changes to the signage. The new theatre signs will be unveiled in early October, at around the time of what would have been Pinter’s 81st birthday on October 10.

Pinter, a Nobel laureate and widely regarded as one of Britain and the world’s greatest playwrights, died on December 24, 2008.

His widow, Lady Antonia Fraser, said: “Harold would have been so pleased by this honour and I am very moved at the news.”

Dorfman also welcomed the announcement. He said: “That it should precisely be Death and the Maiden which begins its run in the building just after it has been christened with the name of my dear friend Harold Pinter, fills me with joy and also seems extraordinarily appropriate. That play is dedicated, after all, to Pinter. He was its godfather and guide when it first opened 20 years ago, and my mentor for most of my writing life. How wondrous that the very play that owed its first life to Pinter, will now be reborn inside a theatre that bears his name.”

The Harold Pinter Theatre will be the first venue that ATG, the UK’s largest theatre operator, has renamed after a major theatrical figure. Squire said the group currently had no confirmed plans to rename any of its other venues but “wouldn’t rule it out”.