Following the success of The Caretaker, Ensemble Theatre is currently presenting not one, but two of Harold Pinter’s gripping one-act plays, The Lover & The Dumb Waiter on stage until Saturday 7 June 2025.
Directed by Ensemble Theatre’s Artistic Director Mark Kilmurry, this double bill offers audiences a unique opportunity to experience the dark humour and suspense that hallmark Pinter’s work.
In The Lover, the façade of a conventional marriage unravels as Richard and Sarah explore unconventional means to reignite their relationship, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy.
Churning with intrigue and uneasy humour, Harold Pinter spins a dangerous game of cat and mouse in this steamy psychological drama starring Nicole Da Silva (The Memory of Water, TV’s Wentworth) and Gareth Davies (Benefactors, Belvoir’s Master And Margarita).
Davies returns to the stage alongside Anthony Taufa (Alone It Stands, A Christmas Carol) in The Dumb Waiter, a comedy of claustrophobia, bringing to the surface Pinter’s signature tension and wit. Ben and Gus have a job to do.
As they await instructions, their silence is disturbed by the rattle of a dumb waiter delivering peculiar food orders. Who is making demands for extravagant dishes when all the two men have is a packet of crisps? As intensity builds, Ben and Gus begin to question everything.
“Harold Pinter, like Chekhov, creates a hypnotic world of reality through what is not said as much as what is said,” said Director Mark Kilmurry. “The real and the unreal exist at the same time, memories and present holding a place in the future.”
“The Lover asks what it takes to keep a married relationship alive and The Dumb Waiter, concerning two men of violence, wonder who is in charge. I am ecstatic we have such a wonderful cast and creative team realising these extraordinary plays written by Pinter at the dizzying height of his creativity.”
Don’t miss the chance to see two works from one of the most influential modern British dramatists at the Ensemble Theatre in 2025.
Director: Mark Kilmurry | Featuring: Nicole Da Silva, Gareth Davies, Anthony Taufa | Set & Costume Designer: Simone Romaniuk | Lighting Designer: Matt Cox | Composer & Sound Designer: Daryl Wallis | Dialect Coach: Linda Nicholls-Gidley | Intimacy Coordinator: Chloë Dallimore | Stage Manager: Lauren Tulloh | Assistant Stage Manager: Yasmin Breeze | Costume Supervisor: Sara Kolijn
The Lover & The Dumb Waiter
Ensemble Theatre, 78 McDougall Street, Kirribilli (North Sydney)
Season continues to 7 June 2025
Information and Bookings: www.ensemble.com.au
Image: Gareth Davies – photo by Brett Boardman