David Mainwood
When Harold Pinter acts in his own plays, particularly his more explicitly political plays, he almost invariably plays the character of the monster, the interrogator, the tormentor, the character that he and the audience has least sympathy with. Is there a reason for this, and how far do you think that, as an actor, he comes to inhabiting these roles?

Michael Billington
Intriguing question. I think it applies quite specifically to One for the Road where Pinter famously played the interrogator, but he also has played Goldberg in The Birthday Party. I think it's because there's a lot of juice in the writing. Pinter realises that if you're going to write a play about victimisation and interrogation, you have to give the leading character not only a rich personality but also a level of complexity. I would offer you the example of the recent One for the Road. I don't know whether you saw that on BBC Four, but there's a superb moment where Pinter is seen for about a minute as the interrogator Nicholas before the victims arrive, sitting alone in a room, with his head in his hands, not speaking. And it was as if Pinter was trying to explain to us that even people in positions of authority and power over others are themselves riddled with some kind of inner doubt and uncertainty about what they are doing. That is why Pinter likes to play these roles, because they're complex human beings.

Keith Chopping, London
Did Harold Pinter's experiences as an actor influence his writing and if so in what ways?

Michael Billington
Pinter's years as an actor had a huge influence on his writing, particularly all those years in English provincial reps in the 1950s. I can recommend a very good book by David T Thompson called Pinter - The Player's Playwright which lists every single performance Pinter gave as an actor. What you discover is that there are certain specific plays you can actually find Pinter using dramatic techniques and devices from. There's a play by Mary Hayley Bell which clearly influenced The Birthday Party because there's a dramatic climax when the lights are turned off and the stage is thrown into darkness. My point is that Pinter has spent a lot of time playing heavies, menacing figures, villains in fairly standard rep plays of the 1950s and this must have had some input into his writing.

I think he also learnt from old-fashioned craftsman like Terence Rattigan and Noel Coward the importance of dramatic tension of keeping the dialogue moving. There's another influence that may seem preposterous but, I think, is there. I was talking to a director in Germany some years ago who was about to direct Pinter's Moonlight. This director had also worked in repertory theatre in England and he said, "Oh yes, I understand Moonlight totally. It's a combination between Kafka and Agatha Christie". You'd be amazed how many Agatha Christie plays Pinter appeared in. All his experiences as an actor fed into his dramatic writing and gave him an understanding of tension, excitement and theatrical effect.

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