The Tea Party

Summary

In collaboration with the European Broadcasting Union, this BBC production of Pinter’s The Tea Party was accompanied in the same week by productions in ten other countries, translated into other languages.

Theatre play

Tea Party by Harold Pinter [more information]

Play synopsis

An outwardly successful man is plagued by paranoid sexual fantasies. This intimate portrait of mental breakdown, symbolised by his failing sight, is ‘partly a play about the barrenness of the business ethic and the danger of denying your class roots’ (Michael Billington, The Life and Work of Harold Pinter, pp. 158-61).

Production history

Commissioned by BBC Television for broadcast in The Largest Theatre in the World strand, in collaboration with the European Broadcasting Union, for broadcast in translation across eleven countries in the space of one week. It was developed from a short story written in 1963, which was read by Pinter on BBC Radio in 1964 (source: Michael Billington, The Life and Work of Harold Pinter, pp. 158 ff.). It would in subsequent years be performed on stage (e.g. in a double bill with another of Pinter’s television plays The Basement at the Duchess, London, in 1970).

Date of transmission

Thursday 25 March 1965

Time

9.25-10.40pm

Series

Largest Theatre in the World

Channel

BBC1

Production company

BBC

Credits

Director

Charles Jarrott

Producer

Sydney Newman (1917-1997)

Film Cameraman

A. A. Englander

Lighting

Robert Wright

Playwright

Harold Pinter

Designer

Eileen Diss

Costume Supervisor

Joan Ellacott

Make-up Supervisor

Lilias Munro

Film Editor

Raoul Sobel

Cast

Hilda Barry	Mother
Peter Bartlett	Tom
Robert Bartlett	John
Margaret Denyer	Lois
Charles Gray	Willy
John Le Mesurier	Disley
Leo McKern	Disson
Vivien Merchant	Wendy
Hugh Owens	Toastmaster
Frederick Piper	Father
Jennifer Wright	Diana

Additional details

Play tags

business; fantasy; mental health / illness

Print sources

Title

Audience Research Report VR/65/162: The Tea Party, 1965 (Audience Research Report)

Archive

BBC Written Archives Centre (WAC) [more information]

Address

Peppard Road
Caversham Park
Reading
Berkshire
RG4 8TZ
UK

Telephone

+44 (0)118 948 6281

Email

heritage@bbc.co.uk

Website

http://www.bbc.co.uk/historyofthebbc/research/wac

Access

The WAC is open from 9.30am to 5.00pm on Wednesdays to Fridays throughout the year to academics, postgraduate students and writers by appointment.

Reference

Held in the audience research report boxes.

Title

Disturbing Television Play by Pinter (Newspaper review)

Reference

The Times, 26 March 1965, p. 15

Title

It’s No Tea Party for the Bride ... (Newspaper review)

Author/creator

Clifford Davis (Reviewer)

Reference

Daily Mirror, 25 March 1965, p. 18

Title

Paranoid’s Progress (Newspaper review)

Author/creator

Maurice Richardson (Reviewer)

Reference

The Observer, 28 March 1965, p. 25

Title

Pinter Play Looks at Man Searching for Place in Life (Newspaper review)

Author/creator

Clive Barnes (Reviewer)

Reference

Daily Express, 26 March 1965, p. 4

Title

Pinter’s Tea Party on BBC Television (Newspaper review)

Author/creator

Mary Crozier (Reviewer)

Reference

The Guardian, 26 March 1965, p. 13

Title

Radio Times, 18 March 1965 (Magazine)

Linking notes

illustrated article, p. 47; listing, p. 51

Title

Television Drama and the Visual Image (Newspaper article)

Reference

The Times, 3 April 1965, p. 12

Title

The Life and Work of Harold Pinter (Book)

Author/creator

Michael Billington (Author)

Reference

London: Faber, 1996

Linking notes

pp. 158 ff.