The Dumb Waiter

The Dumb Waiter is a one-act play by Harold Pinter, written in 1957.

It was first produced at the Hampstead Theatre Club on January 21, 1960. On July 23, 1985, a version for television was broadcast by the BBC.

Plot Summary

Warning: Wikipedia contains spoilers

Two assassins, Ben and Gus are waiting in a basement hotel room for their assignment. Ben, the senior member of duo, calmly reads the newspaper articles and recities them out loud when he finds them interesting. Gus, on the other hand, is pacing around the room nervously. He complains constantly, including that he is haunted by the memory of their last victim, a girl. Gus regrets his choice of profession.

In the back of the room is a dumbwaiter, which delivers occasional food orders. As these orders come in, the tension builds. Gus keeps asking Ben questions, and Ben refuses to answer (or even listen to) him. Tension builds to the point where they even come to blows.

Gus leaves the room to get a drink of water, and the dumbwaiter intercom comes on. Ben listens carefully -- we gather from his replies that their victim has arrived and is on his way to the room. Ben shouts for Gus, who is still out of the room. The door opens, Ben rounds on it with his gun, and Gus enters, stripped of his jacket, waistcoat, tie and gun. The is a long silence as the two stare at each other before the curtain comes down (the implication is that Gus is the person that Ben has been employed to kill).

External Links

• Plot Summary