The Catskill Chronicle

Story and photos by Ted Waddell

[LIBERTY] – A dingy basement lit by a couple of dim bulbs dangling from a
peeling ceiling, a two-man crew waiting for their next job. An unseen upstairs presence sending enigmatic messages downstairs by the grungy dumbwaiter. The ever-increasing tension between the two characters creates a sense
of foreboding and dread.

Harold Pinter’s “The Dumbwaiter,” is a one-act play that delves into the unease and violence of our times, showcases Pinter’s “strange and compelling talent” and established the Nobel Laureate as a master of what would become known as a “comedy of menace”. It takes to the local stage at the Liberty Free Theatre for eight performances Thursday through Sunday, September 24-28 and continuing Thursday through Sunday, October 1-4.

Pinter was London-born  in 1930, and died on December 24, 2008. In 2005, he received the Nobel Prize for Literature, and other awards include the Companion of Honour for Services to Literature, the Legion D’Honneur, the Lawrence Oliver Award and the Moliere D’Honneur for lifetime achievement. He was made a Companion of Literature by the Royal Society of Literature in 1999, and received honorary degrees from 18 universities.

The English playwright, screenwriter, actor, director, political activist and poet was among the most influential playwrights of modern times, in a career that spanned more than half a century, and produced 29 original stage plays, 27 screenplays, many dramatic sketches, and numerous other works in various media. Pinter’s best known plays include “The Birthday Party”, “The Caretaker”,
“The Homecoming” and “Betrayal”, each of which was adapted to the silver
screen.

Penned in 1957, “The Dumbwaiter” premiered at the Hampstead Theatre Club
on January 21, 1960 starring Nicholas Selby as “Ben” and George Tovey in
the role of “Gus”. In 2007, the 50th Anniversary Revival staged at London’s Trafalgar Studios featured Lee Evans and Jason Isaacs.

“I’ve known it since it was written and have always loved the play,” said Paul Austin, founder and artistic director of the Liberty Free Theatre. “It was the first time in my young life as an actor that I saw the relationship between comedy and drama…I always wanted to do it, there’s a whole file in my head of plays that I want to do, and when the moment’s right, they show up.”

Austin said that in getting ready for a new season of productions at the local theatre of, by, and for the people of our community, he starts sorting through ideas for plays jotted down on paper or tucked away in corners of memory. “What can I do, what should I do, who can I cast, what do I feel like doing…’The Dumbwaiter’ popped right off the page.”

In casting Pinter’s play dark-sided play with a bit of light peaking around the edges, Austin selected Paul Jannicola, a singer/songwriter and multi-instrument musician to appear as “Gus”, the junior member of the two-man crew. His compositions have been featured in the award-winning animated short “Hardly Workin”, the acclaimed episodic web series, Tra5hTa1k and MTV’s comedic Life in the Virtual Hills.

“My character is continually looking for guidance…someone to tell him it’s okay,” said Jannicola. “It’s two guys on a mysterious mission.”

“The word of the day is ‘dread’,” he added. “My character is dreading what he has to do…my character knows something is wrong, [and] at the end, we don’t know how it plays out.”

The play ends with the question being asked, “How will this happen?”

Mike “Friz” Frizalone portrays “Ben”, the senior partner in a role he developed in part based on a former life.

As an actor/writer/singer, Frizalone has appeared on stage and film from Maine to the Big Apple, including numerous performances at the Liberty Free Theatre, such as last season’s hit “Kinfolks and Mountain Music”.

“My character overpowers his junior partner…like a father son relationship, the classic case of ‘you piece of crap, good for nothing, I only tell you that because I love you,’” he explained. “Dread is inside my character, but it’s suppressed…it’s a great play by a great playwright. It speaks to me in a way that I don’t know if Ben ever gets away from his troubled past.”

“I grew up around a lot of characters like Ben,” added Frizalone. “I had a troubled past that I was able to get away from and I use that to help me out [in playing the role].”

What happens as the curtain falls on “The Dumbwaiter”? Does dread take the day, or is there the light of redemption at the end of the tunnel?

“You’ll have to make that decision when the lights go down,” replied Frizalone.

Pinter’s comedy drama “The Dumbwaiter” will be presented for eight performances at the Liberty Free Theatre Thursday through Sunday, September 24-28, and continuing Thursday through Sunday, October 1-4. There are no matinees. All shows are at 7:30 p.m., and as always admission is free.
Seating is limited and reservations are recommended. The audience is
invited to gather after the performances for food, drink and music.
The Liberty Free Theatre is located at 109 South Main Street in Liberty,
NY. For information/reservations, call 292-3788.

To view more photos or to purchase prints from The Dumbwaiter – A Study in Dread Noir visit the Chronicle on Zenfolio.