The Homecoming

An intense expression of compressed violence that has inspired years of critical debate.

When Teddy, a professor in an American university, brings his wife Ruth to visit London and his family, he finds himself prey to old conflicts. But now it is Ruth who becomes the focus of the family's struggle for supremacy. The playwright's other works include "The Birthday Party" and "Old Times".

Teddy, a philosophy professor in an American university, brings his wife Ruth to visit his father, uncle and two brothers at his old London home, after years of estrangement. In the intense conflict that follows, it is Ruth who becomes the focus of their struggle for supremacy.

'An exultant night - a man in total command of his talent.' Observer

'The most intense expression of compressed violence to be found anywhere in Pinter's plays.' The Times

'The Homecoming can be seen as a Freudian play about sons filled with subconscious Oedipal desires. It can equally be seen as an ethological study of a group of human animals fighting over territory. Precisely because Pinter never moralises about or resolves the situation, it is a play that, when impeccably acted, continues to haunt our dreams.' Michael Billington, Guardian

The Homecoming premiered at the Aldwych Theatre, London, 1965.

Tony Award for Best Play, 1967.