The Homecoming

The Homecoming
First edition (publ. Methuen & Co. Ltd.)
Written byHarold Pinter
CharactersMax
Lenny
Sam
Joey
Teddy
Ruth
Date premiered3 June 1965
Place premieredAldwych Theatre, London
Original languageEnglish
SubjectFamily
GenreDrama
SettingSummer. An old house in North London.
Official site
Carolyn Jones and John Church were replacements in the original Broadway production, as "Ruth" and "Lenny" (1967)[1]

The Homecoming is a two-act play written in 1964 and published in 1965 by Harold Pinter. Its premières in London (1965) and New York (1967) were both directed by Sir Peter Hall. The original Broadway production won the 1967 Tony Award for Best Play. Its 40th-anniversary Broadway production at the Cort Theatre was nominated for a 2008 Tony Award for "Best Revival of a Play".

Set in North London, the play has six characters. Five of these are men of the same family: Max, a retired butcher; his brother Sam, a chauffeur; and Max's three sons: Teddy, a philosophy professor in the United States; Lenny, a pimp who only makes discreet references to his "occupation" and his clientele and flats in the city (London); and Joey, a brute training to become a professional boxer and who works in demolition. The sixth character is a woman, Ruth, Teddy's wife. The play concerns Teddy's and Ruth's "homecoming," which has distinctly different symbolic and thematic implications. In the initial productions (as well as a 1973 film adaptation), Pinter's first wife, Vivien Merchant, played Ruth.

  1. ^ The Homecoming replacement cast credits on IBDB