The Homecoming

Reviewed by Paula Citron
August 30, 2011

The Homecoming
Stratford Shakespeare Company
Written by Harold Pinter
Directed by Jennifer Tarver
Performed by Brian Dennehy, Aaron Krohn, Ian Lake, Stephen Ouimette, Mike Shara and Cara Ricketts
Avon Theatre
Jul. 26 to Oct. 30, 2011

Harold Pinter’s 1964 play The Homecoming is being given an excellent production at Stratford under the helm of talented director Jennifer Tarver.

The insidious plot is all about power and control within a dysfunctional family, heightened by the unexpected return of college professor Teddy and his wife Ruth to his working class London home.

Pinter is a playwright of menace. Tarver artfully finds the byplay between the surface colloquial language and the subtextual Pinteresque pauses that convey both the dangerous tension and the amoral base instincts within this embattled family.

The cast is a starry one. Brian Dennehy is the foul-mouthed father, a retired butcher. Mike Shara is Teddy and Cara Ricketts is Ruth. Teddy’s brothers are American import Aaron Krohn as the pimp Lenny and Ian Lake is the dim boxer Joey. Stephen Ouimette is the seemingly inconsequential Uncle Sam, a chauffeur.

Almost 50 years later, this unsettling play still packs a wallop.

The Homecoming continues at the Avon Theatre until Oct. 30.