Add MS 89094/4

Ten communications from Pinter to Woolf:

• 1. Pavilion Theatre, Torquay. Tuesday [January 1957]. Pinter to Woolf. Autograph letter (9 sheets). Pinter, Merchant and Woolf have recently met in London. Woolf has offered to produce Pinter's (as yet, largely unwritten) first play, The Room, at the Drama Dept. of the University of Bristol: 'First, about the play. I was highly chuffed & excited by your comments on the situation. But Henry! Do you realise that the end of February is only a month's time? It is murder to let a chance like this slip, I'd very much like you to produce it there, & I'm extremely grateful for your enthusiasm, but I don't see how I can do it. I've only just begun to write it [...]'. Pinter estimates he needs 'six months' to complete the play. Meanwhile, Pinter and friends have heard and debated the first broadcast of Beckett's radio play All That Fall (Third Programme, 13 January 1957). Woolf, who has read Murphy, is urged to read more Beckett. The letter concludes: 'Sorry about the play. Not possible.'
• 2. Pavilion, Torquay. Thursday [21 February 1957 - postmark]. Pinter to Woolf. Typed letter (1 sheet), with envelope. Pinter has evidently drafted his play and sent it to Woolf, who intends to proceed with the production. Pinter agrees to make copies (incorporating 'a few adjustments') which Woolf will collect when he visits 'on Sunday week' (i.e. 3 March) when they will have the opportunity to discuss the production: 'I think the main point is, have you got a woman who can play the part? If you haven't, I don't think it's worth taking a chance.'
• 3. [Torquay]. Tues [5 March 1957 - postmark]. Pinter to Woolf. Autograph lettercard. Wollf has not yet visited. 'I'll tell ya we leave Torquay Sat. week (the 16th) so if you're coming over you'd better make it snappy.'
• 4. [Torquay]. Thurs. [7 March 1957 - postmark]. Pinter to Woolf. Autograph lettercard. Pinter is to visit Woolf in Bristol: 'I'm coming on Monday. Be in at 12.21 noon. Have to return in the evening.'
• 5. Palace Theatre, Leicester. Tuesday [?April 1957]. Pinter to Woolf. Typed letter (1 sheet). Pinter and Merchant have visited, met Woolf's family in his absence, and left a revised script: 'As you see, I've made a few alterations, condensed and cut. I wish you luck. It won't be easy. The point is, anyway, that it's all yours. If you want to cut anything, if he actors find it impossible to say anything, etc., scrub it out.'
• 6. [Torquay]. Saturday [12 May 1957]. Pinter to Woolf. Typed letter (1 sheet). Refers to Woolf's forthcoming production ('next Thusday isn't it?') of The Room (15-16 May) which Pinter will not be able to attend: 'I should dearly like to hear the words spoke and the action acted. But impossible. I shall be buggering on and off in some shitshow here those nights.' He looks forward to 'the tape with some anticipation'. Meanwhile, Pinter is 'cracking along with the other play', although he will have to 'lay it aside pretty soon' to type The Dwarfs ('I must get this book done and moved about').
• 7. [Bournemouth]. Tues. [14 May 1957]. Pinter to Woolf. Typed letter (1 sheet). 'We want to come and see ya! No, not, I'm afraid, the play, bugger it, but on Sunday.' As regards The Room: 'If they laugh in the wrong places keep them waiting for the next line. The play's very short as it is - another 10 minutes won't hurt it!'.
• 8. [Bournemouth]. Saturday [9 June 1957 - postmark]. Pinter to Woolf. Typed letter (1 sheet). Refers to Vivien's pregnancy: 'We've been waiting to find out if we are going to be three but is seems it's too early to determine this. It looks pretty likely though.'
• 9. Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham. Friday, 27 Sep. [1957]. Pinter to Woolf. Typed letter (1 sheet). Woolf is in Ireland, touring with McMaster. Pinter comments on McMaster's acting and offers local advice. 'Vivien is here, and sitting by the fire knitting most delicately a delightful baby garment.' Refers to a possible production of The Room at The Royal Court. 'Also, Cambell [sic] Williams, the Arts man, liked the play, but it was too short by itself and he's now reading "The Party". Don't know what's going on.' Pinter has just finished a one-act play called 'The Shaft' (i.e.The Dumb Waiter): 'Vivien sees you as Gus'.
• 10. Sunday [25 May 1958]. Pinter to Woolf (at Theatre Royal, Bristol). Autograph postcard (franked 26 May). Bullish communication following the first London production The Birthday Party (Lyric, Hammersmith), which closed after a week. Buoyed-up by the positive review by Harold Hobson in the Sunday Times: 'As for Hobson, may he live long & die happy. A little overstated perhaps, but still he has gladdened the air for me, without doubt.'