Alexandra Leto Theater 140 Boucher June 10, 2019 The Dumb Waiter, a one-act play written by Harold Pinter, employs several dramatic devices that are common to the Theater of the Absurd. This style has many unique characteristics that define it. Though Absurd Theater is usually filled with unusual characters and random, weird occurrence, Pinter goes one step further by incorporating realistic characters with common concerns, struggles, and fears of real-life people in the world. The absurd in this play takes on the form of two men’s reaction to a world apparently without meaning and men as puppets being controlled or menaced by outside forces. The fear of a vague outside threat is a significant element within Absurd Theater. In Pinter’s play there is an undeniable existence of fear, menace, and uncertainty. The Dumb Waiter pictures Ben and Gus, two hitmen, who await instructions for their mission from Wilson, their invisible master. Their passive action and repetitive communication present them as obedient puppets to a higher power. The real menace, or threat of uncertainty, develops step by step and consumes the entire windowless basement, making the atmosphere seem suffocative. The existence of this unknown threat first comes about when an envelope is slid under the door and it comes to a climax with the sudden descent of the dumb waiter. Gus can feel something is wrong and barrages Ben with various questions showing his uncertainty and paranoia:
