The Hothouse

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The Hothouse is a play written by Harold Pinter between arguably his two most successful plays, The Birthday Party and The Caretaker. Despite being written in the winter of 1958, Pinter shelved the play until 1980 following the initial commercial failure of 'The Birthday Party'.

Synopsis

The play is set in a dubious institution; referred to throughout the play as both a 'rest home' and a 'sanitorium', wherein the residents (or 'patients') are referred to by number, rather than by name. The institution's bombastic leader, Roote, has his professionalism and even his sanity constantly undermined by his two lackey underlings, the quiet and efficient Gibbs and the sleazy and alcoholic Lush. Roote's calculating and shrewd mistress, Miss Cutts, adds to the mayhem. After the supposed murder of one patient and the rape and resulting pregnancy of another, Roote, Gibbs and Lush set out to find the culprit(s), only to discover a disturbing secret.

[edit] List of Characters

• Roote
• Gibbs
• Lush
• Miss Cutts
• Lamb
• Tubb
• Lobb

[edit] Interpretations

The play is often interpreted as a searing indictment of institutionalised beauracracy, however the triangular trinity of dependence created by Roote, Gibbs and Lush often leads critics to more religious interpretations. 'The Hothouse's dark mix of comedy and horror means that the play is often seen as Pinter's most overtly comic piece of writing, yet the manner in which the play finds black, absurdist humour within the corridors of power hints towards the more blatant political direction of some of the playwright's later writings, such as One For The Road and Mountain Language.

The Plays of Harold Pinter

Plays : Ashes to Ashes, The Basement, Betrayal, The Birthday Party, The Caretaker, Celebration, The Collection, The Dumb Waiter, The Dwarfs, Family Voices, The Homecoming, The Hothouse, A Kind of Alaska, Landscape, The Lover, Moonlight, Monologue, Mountain Language, A Night Out, Night School, No Man's Land, Old Times, One for the Road, Party Time, Remembrance of Things Past (with Di Trevis), The Room, Silence, A Slight Ache, Tea Party, Voices (with James Clarke) Sketches : Apart from That, Applicant, The Black and White, Dialogue for Three, Interview, Last to Go, The New World Order, Night, Precisely, Press Conference, Request Stop, Special Offer, That's All, That's Your Trouble, Trouble in the Works, Victoria Station