An Effective Pause
As the female lead in Betrayal, a play by Harold Pinter, winner of this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature, Shabana Azmi shares her views on the playwright and his dramatic technique of using ‘pauses’ while toying with human emotions and existentialism.
1. How do you feel being part of “Betrayal”?
It’s been a very happy and truly enriching experience. Not only did I get to work on the script of a famous playwright like Harold Pinter but also to perform with actors of great calibre like Peter Friedman and Simon Jones.
2. Is this the first time you’re working on a Pinter play?
Yes! (Laughs) I was not aware about Pinter’s plays. My husband had heard about it.
3. How has the play of Harold Pinter been different?
The work was fun. What made Harold Pinter unique was that he is the only playwright who writes out the ‘pauses’ in his script. The pause speaks as much as the dialogue and has a punch of its own. The ‘pauses’ are shorter and the ‘silences’ are longer. Pinter devised it to give the actor time to broach a subject that is uncomfortable and created the silences to change the subject.
4. How has the experience been? Did you face any difficulties?
It was definitely different. There was no difficulty as such in performance but as the play depends on the flow in scenes, it was very essential for us to have a correct sense of timing. And we have to keep practising this.
5. What are the differing demands of theatre and cinema?
Being a part of theatre is like being a part of cinema where you have to search for the character. But the whole thrill you get out of performing live to an audience is tremendous.-Rashmi Kumar
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