THE BIRTHDAY PARTY
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The Birthday Party is no exception. The elderly Petey and his wife, Meg, live by a seaside resort where he works as a deck-chair attendant and she rents rooms to boarders. They have just one boarder at present: Stanley, formerly a semisuccessful pianist, now a lethargic recluse, neglectful of his person, uninterested in any social activity, and resentful of any attempt to spark his interest. Not even the provocative Lulu from next door can raise a response from him. The arrival of two strangers, however, sparks a very pronounced response. Goldberg–a gentleman with at least two complete identities, one Jewish, one gentile–and his partner, the Irishman McCann, take a room in Meg’s house. Upon learning that it’s Stanley’s birthday, they propose a party. In the course of preparations for the party and the party itself, these two confront Stanley with accusations of innumerable crimes and questions ranging from the oracular to the ridiculous: “What about the Albigensian heresy?” “Why did the chicken cross the road?” Stanley’s initial unease grows to a paralyzing fear. When he finally cracks, Goldberg and McCann promise him all manner of comfort and, after warning the others not to interfere, transport him to a mysterious sanctuary.
Are Goldberg and McCann gangsters? Are they terrorists? Government agents? Is Stanley a traitor, a defector, or a criminal? If so, what was, or is, his crime? Is The Birthday Party an allegory of totalitarianism, with Goldberg and McCann representing the Nazis/McCarthyites/IRA/KGB/CIA? Is it an allegory of religious repression, with Goldberg and McCann the Inquisition? Is it an allegory of life and death? Perhaps Stanley–who is said to be “a corpse waiting to be washed”–is being given one last chance to live. (That would explain Goldberg’s warning to Petey that he, too, could be taken along with Stanley, while Meg and Lulu, whose sins are of a life-affirming nature, are let off with no more than a bad scare.)
