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issue 51: January - February 2006 

Harold Pinter Quiz

Harold Pinter: Copyright 2006 Dick Scott-Stewart Archive, London
Our quiz this issue is on 2005 Nobel Prize winner Harold Pinter, absurdist dramatist, screenwriter, poet, prose writer, journalist, and political activist. The winner will receive a 30-euro (£20 / $30) gift certificate to spend at Amazon; in case of a tie, a name will be drawn. Deadline: March 1, 2006

THIS QUIZ IS NOW FINISHED FOR THE ANSWERS CLICK HERE

Pinter remains to his credit, a permanent public nuisance, a questioner of accepted truths, both in life and art. In fact the two persistently inter-act.
         The Life and Work of Harold Pinter by Michael Billington

 


1. At Hackney Downs Grammar School in 1947 and 1948, Pinter played the roles of...

a. Macbeth and Romeo
b. Hamlet and Othello
c. Prospero and King Lear
d. Juliet and Ophelia

2. Which one of the following pseudonyms did Pinter not utilize?

a. David Baron
b. Harold Pinta
c. Harold Baron

3. Pinter’s first produced effort as a playwright was entitled ...

a. The Room
b. The Dumbwaiter
c. A Slight Ache

4. When The Birthday Party was first staged in 1958, the critics were generally ...

a. full of praise
b. lukewarm
c. hostile

5. In The Birthday Party, what is Meg’s birthday present to Stanley?

a. a tin soldier
b. a toy drum
c. a red wagon

6. What is the occupation of Max’s son Lenny in The Homecoming?

a. boxer
b. butcher
c. pimp
d. cab driver

7. In The Caretaker, who is asked to be a caretaker?

a. Aston
b. Mick
c. Davies

8. Compared to Beckett, Pinter’s work generally...

a. discards slightly fewer conventional dramatic forms and theatrical devices.
b. is far more radical.
c. utilizes exactly the same absurdist elements.

9. In which play do we find the protagonist awakening from a 29-year sleeping sickness?


10. Pinter’s only novel, later adapted for the stage, is about three men who...

a. yearn to be writers.
b. went to school together in Hackney.
c. experience communication problems with their families.

11. Which one of the following actors has not appeared in a film in Various Pinter posterswhich Pinter wrote the screenplay?

a. Robert De Niro
b. Jack Nicholson
c. Al Pacino
d. Meryl Streep
e. Helen Mirren
f. Alan Bates
g. Ben Kingsley
h. Anthony Hopkins
i. Christopher Walken
j. Jeremy Irons
k. Fay Dunaway

12. In which one of the following films did Pinter appear as an actor?

a. Mansfield Park
b. Sense and Sensibility
c. Pride and Prejudice

13. In 2000 Pinter was invited by The Independent to participate in its feature "Heroes and Villains 2000." For his "Villain," Pinter submitted whose name, which The Independent "accidentally" omitted, simply citing NATO?


14. Democracy

There's no escape.
The big pricks are out.
They'll fuck everything in sight.
(three words)
poem by Harold Pinter, February 2003

15. Pinter acted in several of his own plays at one time or another. In which of the following did he not appear?

a. Mountain Language
b. The Homecoming
c. The Caretaker
d. Old Times
e. No Man’s Land
f.  One for the Road
g. The Hothouse

16. Pinter’s work has added two expressions to the contemporary lexicon, Pinteresque and...

a. Pinter ellipsis
b. Pinter pause
c. Pinter lapse

17. As a sideline, Pinter has been the long-time chairman of ...

a. a bridge club
b. a cricket club
c. a garden club

18. Pinter’s first wife, Vivien Merchant, frequently appeared in his plays. According to his response in  various interviews, did Pinter specifically write parts for her?

a. yes
b. no
c. sometimes

19. On October 13, 2005, the day Pinter’s Nobel Prize was announced, a cable TV channel erroneously announced what news?


20. In his Nobel Prize acceptance speech on Dec. 10, 2005, whom did Pinter declare should be - but could not legally be - tried for war crimes?




© TBR 2006
© Photo: 2006 Dick Scott-Stewart (1948 - 2002)
With thanks to:  Dick Scott-Stewart Archive, London

This quiz may not be archived, reproduced or distributed further without the author's express permission. Please see our conditions of use.

navigation:

issue 51: January - February 2006

fiction

Niall Griffiths: Coming of Age
David Ramos Fernandes:
Storage
Nora Pierce:
Guess Who Loves Me Now?
Caroline Kepnes:
Companions
Katie Arnsteen:
Long Ride Home

    
picks from back issues

Pete Duval: Fun With Mammals
Adam Johnson:
Trauma Plate

interview

James Meek

quiz

Harold Pinter
answers to last issue’s quiz, Harry Potter

book reviews

The People’s Act of Love by James Meek
The Blind Rider by Juan Goytisolo
Borrowed Light by Joolz Denby
Cold Skin by Albert Sánchez Piñol

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