''A Kind of Alaska'' is a one-act play written in 1982 by British playwright

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that span ...

Summary

A middle-aged woman named Deborah, who has been in a comatose state for thirty years as a result of contracting "sleepy sickness,"

encephalitis lethargica Encephalitis lethargica is an atypical form of encephalitis. Also known as "sleeping sickness" or "sleepy sickness" (distinct from tsetse fly-transmitted sleeping sickness), it was first described in 1917 by neurologist Constantin von Econom ...

, awakes with a mind still that of a sixteen-year-old. She must confront a body which seems to have aged without her prior knowledge or consent. Her sister Pauline and Pauline's husband, Hornby, who has been Deborah's devoted doctor over these three decades and who may have fallen in love with her, attempt gently to ease her back to her current reality, while withholding some of the more jarring information. Deborah reawakens to a changed world, attempting to take what appear to her to be rather shocking revelations in graceful stride, but ends the play with the ironic observation about her sister and brother-in-law that can only go so far towards accepting the realities that they have allowed her to know. Speaking of Pauline, Deborah states, bluntly: "She is a widow. She doesn't go to her ballet classes any more. Daddy and Estelle and Mummy ho is actually deadare on a world cruise. They've stopped off in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

. It'll be my birthday soon. I think I have the matter in proportion".

Production history

According to his note in the published text, Pinter's idea for the play was inspired by his reading of the book ''

Awakenings ''Awakenings'' is a 1990 American drama film directed by Penny Marshall. It is written by Steven Zaillian, who based his screenplay on Oliver Sacks's 1973 memoir '' Awakenings''. It tells the story of neurologist Dr. Malcolm Sayer (Robin Willia ...

'' by

neurologist Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal c ...

Oliver Sacks Oliver Wolf Sacks, (9 July 1933 – 30 August 2015) was a British neurologist, naturalist, historian of science, and writer. Born in Britain, Sacks received his medical degree in 1958 from The Queen's College, Oxford, before moving to the Uni ...

. ''A Kind of Alaska'' was first performed in the

Cottesloe Theatre The Royal National Theatre in London, commonly known as the National Theatre (NT), is one of the United Kingdom's three most prominent publicly funded performing arts venues, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera House. ...

, in London, on 14 October 1982, as part of a trilogy of Pinter's plays entitled ''Other Places''. The original cast included

Judi Dench Dame Judith Olivia Dench (born 9 December 1934) is an English actress. Regarded as one of Britain's best actresses, she is noted for her versatile work in various films and television programmes encompassing several genres, as well as for her ...

as Deborah, Paul Rogers as Hornby, and

Anna Massey Anna Raymond Massey (11 August 19373 July 2011) was an English actress. She won a BAFTA Award for the role of Edith Hope in the 1986 TV adaptation of Anita Brookner's novel ''Hotel du Lac'', a role that one of her co-stars, Julia McKenzie, h ...

as Pauline. The play was revived in April 2012 by the

Bristol Old Vic Bristol Old Vic is a British theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, Bristol. The present company was established in 1946 as an offshoot of the Old Vic in London. It is associated with the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which became a f ...

in a double bill with

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and Tragicomedy, tr ...

's '' Krapp's Last Tape''. The role of Deborah was played by

Marion Bailey Marion Bailey (born 5 May 1951) is an English actress. She is best known for her work with her partner, filmmaker Mike Leigh, including the films '' Meantime'' (1983), ''All or Nothing'' (2002), ''Vera Drake'' (2004), ''Mr. Turner'' (2014), fo ...

Works cited

* Pinter, Harold. ''Other Places: Four Plays''. New York:

Dramatists Play Service Dramatists Play Service (also known as The Play Service) is a theatrical-publishing and licensing house, established in 1936 by members of the Dramatists Guild of America and the Society for Authors' Representatives. DPS publishes English-language ...

, 1984. (10). . Print. One_for_the_Road'',_along_with_''A_Kind_of_Alaska'',_''Victoria_Station'',_and_''Family_Voices''..html" ;"title="One for the Road (Harold Pinter play)">One for the Road'', along with ''A Kind of Alaska'', ''Victoria Station'', and ''Family Voices''.">One for the Road (Harold Pinter play)">One for the Road'', along with ''A Kind of Alaska'', ''Victoria Station'', and ''Family Voices''.*–––. ''Other Places: Three Plays'' (''A Kind of Alaska'', ''Victoria Station'', and ''Family Voices''). New York:

Grove Press Grove Press is an American publishing imprint that was founded in 1947. Imprints include: Black Cat, Evergreen, Venus Library, and Zebra. Barney Rosset purchased the company in 1951 and turned it into an alternative book press in the United Sta ...

(An Evergreen Book), 1983. Hardback ed.: (10). Paperback ed.: (10). (13). Print. (Page references to the paperback edition appear within parentheses above.) 'A Kind of Alaska'' appears on 1–40.

External links

*
A Kind of Alaska
' – In the "Plays" section of ''haroldpinter.org'', Pinter's official website. *
Other Places
' – In the "Plays" section of haroldpinter.org.

TLS TLS may refer to: Computing * Transport Layer Security, a cryptographic protocol for secure computer network communication * Thread level speculation, an optimisation on multiprocessor CPUs * Thread-local storage, a mechanism for allocating vari ...

'' and reproduced with permission.] *
Other Places: Four Plays by Harold Pinter
' (

) –

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limited preview. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kind Of Alaska 1982 plays Plays by Harold Pinter One-act plays