Editing Harold Pinter (section)

===2001–2008===
From 16 to 31 July 2001, a Harold Pinter Festival celebrating his work, curated by [[Michael Colgan (theatre director)|Michael Colgan]], artistic director of the [[Gate Theatre]], Dublin, was held as part of the annual Lincoln Center Festival at [[Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts|Lincoln Center]] in New York City.  Pinter participated both as an actor, as Nicolas in ''One for the Road'', and as a director of a double bill pairing his last play, ''Celebration'', with his first play, ''The Room''.<ref name=reports>Merritt, "Talking about Pinter" (''passim'').</ref>  As part of a two-week "Harold Pinter Homage" at the World Leaders Festival of Creative Genius, held from 24 September to 30 October 2001, at the Harbourfront Centre, in Toronto, Canada, Pinter presented a dramatic reading of ''Celebration'' (2000) and also participated in a public interview as part of the [[Culture in Toronto#Literature|International Festival of Authors]].<ref name=IFOA>{{cite web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020225161916/http://www.readings.org/news/011001pinter.html |archive-date=25 February 2002 |title=Harold Pinter Added to IFOA Lineup |url=http://www.readings.org/news/011001pinter.html |work=Harbourfront Reading Series |publisher=Harbourfront Centre |location=Toronto |access-date=27 June 2011}}</ref><ref name=IFOA2>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/09/travel/travel-advisory-toronto-festival-honors-14-leaders-in-the-arts.html |title=Travel Advisory; Toronto Festival Honors 14 Leaders in the Arts – New York Times |last=Staff |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=9 September 2001 |location=New York City |issn=0362-4331 |access-date=28 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110703234324/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/09/travel/travel-advisory-toronto-festival-honors-14-leaders-in-the-arts.html |archive-date=3 July 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Merritt, "Staging Pinter: From Pregnant Pauses to Political Causes" 123–43.</ref>

In December 2001, Pinter was diagnosed with [[oesophageal cancer]], for which, in 2002, he underwent an operation and [[chemotherapy]].<ref name=BillingtonKoval>{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/rn/arts/bwriting/stories/s671912.htm |title=Books and Writing – 15/9/2002: Harold Pinter |first=Ramona |last=Koval |work=[[Radio National|ABC Radio National]] |publisher=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] |date=15 September 2009 |access-date=29 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110316201156/http://www.abc.net.au/rn/arts/bwriting/stories/s671912.htm |archive-date=16 March 2011 |url-status=dead}}; Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 413–16.</ref>  During the course of his treatment, he directed a production of his play ''No Man's Land'', and wrote and performed in a new sketch, "Press Conference", for a production of his dramatic sketches at the National Theatre, and from 2002 on he was increasingly active in political causes, writing and presenting politically charged poetry, essays, speeches, as well as involved in developing his final two screenplay adaptations, ''The Tragedy of King Lear'' and ''Sleuth'', whose drafts are in the British Library's [[Harold Pinter Archive]] (Add MS 88880/2).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/manuscripts/HITS0001.ASP?VPath=arevhtml/78575.htm&Search=%27Harold+Pinter%27&Highlight=T |title=Pinter Archive |last=Staff |work=Manuscripts catalogue |publisher=British Library |year=2011 |quote=MS 88880/2 |access-date=4 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111124185019/http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/manuscripts/HITS0001.ASP?VPath=arevhtml%2F78575.htm&Search=%27Harold+Pinter%27&Highlight=T |archive-date=24 November 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

From 9 to 25 January 2003, the Manitoba Theatre Centre, in [[Manitoba]], Canada, held a nearly month-long ''PinterFest'', in which over 130 performances of twelve of Pinter's plays were performed by a dozen different theatre companies.<ref name=PinterFest>{{cite web |url=http://www.haroldpinter.org/plays/frn_pinterfestival_ca03.shtml |title=Pinter Fest 2003 |editor=Batty, Mark |work=haroldpinter.org |year=2003 |access-date=29 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613220837/http://www.haroldpinter.org/plays/frn_pinterfestival_ca03.shtml |archive-date=13 June 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>  Productions during the Festival included: ''The Hothouse'', ''Night School'', ''The Lover'', ''The Dumb Waiter'', ''The Homecoming'', ''The Birthday Party'', ''Monologue'', ''One for the Road'', ''The Caretaker'', ''Ashes to Ashes'', ''Celebration'', and ''No Man's Land''.<ref name=MerrittPinterFest>Merritt, "PinterFest", in "Forthcoming Publications, Upcoming Productions, and Other Works in Progress", "Harold Pinter Bibliography: 2000–2002" (299).</ref>

[[File:Harold-pinter-atp.jpg|thumb|Pinter in 2005]]

In 2005, Pinter stated that he had stopped writing plays and that he would be devoting his efforts more to his political activism and writing poetry: "I think I've written 29 plays. I think it's enough for me&nbsp;... My energies are going in different directions—over the last few years I've made a number of political speeches at various locations and ceremonies&nbsp;... I'm using a lot of energy more specifically about political states of affairs, which I think are very, very worrying as things stand."<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4305725.stm |title=Pinter 'to give up writing plays' |first=Mark |last=Lawson |work=[[BBC News]] |date=28 February 2005 |publisher=[[British Broadcasting Corporation|BBC]] |location=London |access-date=29 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324141852/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4305725.stm |archive-date=24 March 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=Robinson>{{cite web |url=http://news.scotsman.com/uk/Im-written-out-says-controversial.2805471.jp |title=I'm written out, says controversial Pinter |first=David |last=Robinson |work=Scotsman.com News |publisher=Johnston Press Digital Publishing |date=26 August 2006 |access-date=29 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629205724/http://news.scotsman.com/uk/Im-written-out-says-controversial.2805471.jp |archive-date=29 June 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>  Some of this later poetry included "The 'Special Relationship'", "Laughter", and "The Watcher".

From 2005, Pinter experienced ill health, including a rare skin disease called [[pemphigus]]<ref name=Billingtonwritten>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2006/mar/14/theatre.stage |title='I've written 29 damn plays. Isn't that enough?' |first=Michael |last=Billington |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=14 March 2006 |publisher=[[Guardian Media Group|GMG]] |location=London |issn=0261-3077 |oclc=60623878 |access-date=29 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100830080949/http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2006/mar/14/theatre.stage |archive-date=30 August 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> and "a form of [[Sepsis|septicaemia]] that afflict[ed] his feet and made it difficult for him to walk."<ref>Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 395.</ref>  Yet, he completed his screenplay for the film of ''Sleuth'' in 2005.<ref name=Lyall/><ref>Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 418–20.</ref><!-- See reference to Sleuth just above-->  His last dramatic work for radio, ''Voices'' (2005), a collaboration with composer [[James Clarke (composer)|James Clarke]], adapting selected works by Pinter to music, premièred on [[BBC Radio 3]] on his 75th birthday on 10 October 2005.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/voices/pip/2v1eq/ |title=BBC – Radio 3 – Voices – Harold Pinter's 75th birthday |last=Staff |work=bbc.co.uk |year=2011 |access-date=4 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207073915/http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/voices/pip/2v1eq/ |archive-date=7 February 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref>  Three days later, it was announced that he had won the 2005 Nobel Prize in Literature.<ref>Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 420.</ref>

In an interview with Pinter in 2006, conducted by critic Michael Billington as part of the cultural programme of the [[2006 Winter Olympics]] in [[Turin]], Italy, Pinter confirmed that he would continue to write poetry but not plays.<ref name=Billingtonwritten/>  In response, the audience shouted ''No'' in unison, urging him to keep writing.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Merritt |first=Susan Hollis |title=Europe Theatre Prize Celebration – Turin, Italy |journal=Harold Pinter Society Newsletter |date=Fall 2006 |type=Print}}</ref>  Along with the international symposium on Pinter: Passion, Poetry, Politics, curated by Billington, the 2006 [[Europe Theatre Prize]] theatrical events celebrating Pinter included new productions (in French) of ''Precisely'' (1983), ''One for the Road'' (1984), ''Mountain Language'' (1988), ''The New World Order'' (1991), ''Party Time'' (1991), and ''Press Conference'' (2002) (French versions by Jean Pavans); and ''Pinter Plays, Poetry & Prose'', an evening of dramatic readings, directed by [[Alan Stanford]], of the [[Gate Theatre]], Dublin.<ref name=ETPEvent>{{cite web |url=http://www.premio-europa.org/open_page.php?id=336 |title=Europe Theatre Prize – X Edition – spettacoli |work=premio-europa.org |year=2006 |access-date=29 June 2011 |language=it, en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727184646/http://www.premio-europa.org/open_page.php?id=336 |archive-date=27 July 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>  In June 2006, the [[British Academy of Film and Television Arts]] (BAFTA) hosted a celebration of Pinter's films curated by his friend, the playwright [[David Hare (playwright)|David Hare]].  Hare introduced the selection of film clips by saying: "To jump back into the world of Pinter's movies&nbsp;... is to remind yourself of a literate mainstream cinema, focused as much as [[Ingmar Bergman|Bergman]]'s is on the human face, in which tension is maintained by a carefully crafted mix of image and dialogue."<ref name="bill429">Billington, ''Harold Pinter'' 429.</ref>

After returning to London from the [[Edinburgh International Book Festival]], in September 2006, Pinter began rehearsing for his performance of the role of [[Krapp's Last Tape#Characters|Krapp]] in [[Samuel Beckett]]'s one-act [[monologue]] ''[[Krapp's Last Tape]]'', which he performed from a motorised wheelchair in a limited run the following month at the [[Royal Court Theatre]] to sold-out audiences and "ecstatic" critical reviews.<ref name=KLTrev>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2006/oct/16/theatre.beckettat100 |title=Krapp's Last Tape, Royal Court, London |first=Michael |last=Billington |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=16 October 2006 |publisher=[[Guardian Media Group|GMG]] |location=London |issn=0261-3077 |oclc=60623878 |access-date=29 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121113140056/http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2006/oct/16/theatre.beckettat100 |archive-date=13 November 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref>  The production ran for only nine performances, as part of the 50th-anniversary celebration season of the [[Royal Court Theatre]]; it sold out within minutes of the opening of the box office and tickets commanded large sums from [[ticket resale|ticket resellers]].<ref>Münder 220; cf. Fraser, ''Must You Go?'' 304 and 307.</ref>  One performance was filmed and broadcast on [[BBC Four]] on 21 June 2007, and also screened later, as part of the memorial PEN Tribute to Pinter, in New York, on 2 May 2009.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://web.gc.cuny.edu/mestc/events/s09/PEN_World_Voices.html |title=PEN World Voices Festival: Harold Pinter Memorial Celebration |work=Martin E. Segal Theatre Center |publisher=The City University of New York |year=2009 |access-date=29 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614060751/http://web.gc.cuny.edu/mestc/events/s09/PEN_World_Voices.html |archive-date=14 June 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In October and November 2006, [[Sheffield Theatres]] hosted [[Sheffield Theatres#Pinter: A Celebration|Pinter: A Celebration]]. It featured productions of seven of Pinter's plays: ''The Caretaker'', ''Voices'', ''No Man's Land'', ''Family Voices'', ''Tea Party'', ''The Room'', ''One for the Road'', and ''The Dumb Waiter''; and films (most his screenplays; some in which Pinter appears as an actor).<ref name=SheffieldNews>{{cite web |url=http://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=news.view&NewsID=222 |title=Pinter: A Celebration |work=sheffieldtheatres.co.uk |year=2011 |access-date=29 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716090843/http://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=news.view&NewsID=222 |archive-date=16 July 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

In February and March 2007, a 50th anniversary of ''The Dumb Waiter'', was produced at the [[Trafalgar Studios]].  Later in February 2007, [[John Crowley (director)|John Crowley]]'s film version of Pinter's play ''Celebration'' (2000) was shown on ''[[More4]]'' ([[Channel 4]], UK).  On 18 March 2007, [[BBC Radio 3]] broadcast a new radio production of ''The Homecoming'', directed by [[Thea Sharrock]] and produced by Martin J. Smith, with Pinter performing the role of Max (for the first time; he had previously played Lenny on stage in 1964).  A revival of ''The Hothouse'' opened at the National Theatre, in London, in July 2007, concurrently with a revival of ''Betrayal'' at the [[Donmar Warehouse]], directed by [[Roger Michell]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/mar/17/featuresreviews.guardianreview13 |title=Fathers and sons |first=Samuel |last=West |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=17 March 2007 |publisher=[[Guardian Media Group|GMG]] |location=London |issn=0261-3077 |oclc=60623878 |access-date=29 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100411070458/http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/mar/17/featuresreviews.guardianreview13 |archive-date=11 April 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[File:No Mans Land Harold Pinter Duke of Yorks Theatre London.jpg|right|thumb|''[[No Man's Land (play)|No Man's Land]]'' revival at [[Duke of York's Theatre]], 30 December 2008]]
Revivals in 2008 included the 40th-anniversary production of the American première of ''The Homecoming'' on Broadway, directed by [[Daniel J. Sullivan]].<ref name=Upcomingevents>{{cite web |url=http://www.haroldpinter.org/calendar/index.shtml |title=Worldwide Calendar |editor=Batty, Mark |work=haroldpinter.org |year=2011 |access-date=29 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110709085619/http://www.haroldpinter.org/calendar/index.shtml |archive-date=9 July 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>  From 8 to 24 May 2008, the [[Lyric Hammersmith]] celebrated the 50th anniversary of ''The Birthday Party'' with a revival and related events, including a gala performance and reception hosted by Harold Pinter on 19 May 2008, exactly 50 years after its London première there. The final revival during Pinter's lifetime was a production of ''No Man's Land'', directed by [[Rupert Goold]], opening at the Gate Theatre, Dublin, in August 2008, and then transferring to the [[Duke of York's Theatre]], London, where it played until 3 January 2009.<ref name=BWW>{{cite web |url=http://westend.broadwayworld.com/article/Photo_Flash_NO_MANS_LAND_at_the_Duke_of_York_20000101 |title=Photo Flash: No Man's Land at the Duke of York |last=Staff |work=westend.broadwayworld.com |date=10 November 2008 |access-date=29 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120117182820/http://westend.broadwayworld.com/article/Photo_Flash_NO_MANS_LAND_at_the_Duke_of_York_20000101 |archive-date=17 January 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref>  On the Monday before Christmas 2008, Pinter was admitted to [[Hammersmith Hospital]], where he died on Christmas Eve from liver cancer, aged 78.<ref name=Goodnight>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2009/jan/01/pinter-theatre |title=Goodnight, sweet prince: Shakespearean farewell to Pinter |first=Michael |last=Billington |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=1 January 2009 |publisher=[[Guardian Media Group|GMG]] |location=London |issn=0261-3077 |oclc=60623878 |access-date=29 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100326011045/http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/jan/01/pinter-theatre |archive-date=26 March 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

On 26 December 2008, when ''No Man's Land'' reopened at the Duke of York's, the actors paid tribute to Pinter from the stage, with Michael Gambon reading Hirst's monologue about his "photograph album" from Act Two that Pinter had asked him to read at his funeral, ending with a standing ovation from the audience, many of whom were in tears:
{{blockquote|I might even show you my photograph album.  You might even see a face in it which might remind you of your own, of what you once were.  You might see faces of others, in shadow, or cheeks of others, turning, or jaws, or backs of necks, or eyes, dark under hats, which might remind you of others, whom once you knew, whom you thought long dead, but from whom you will still receive a sidelong glance if you can face the good ghost.  Allow the love of the good ghost.  They possess all that emotion&nbsp;... trapped.  Bow to it.  It will assuredly never release them, but who knows&nbsp;... what relief&nbsp;... it may give them&nbsp;... who knows how they may quicken&nbsp;... in their chains, in their glass jars.  You think it cruel&nbsp;... to quicken them, when they are fixed, imprisoned? No&nbsp;... no.  Deeply, deeply, they wish to respond to your touch, to your look, and when you smile, their joy&nbsp;... is unbounded.  And so I say to you, tender the dead, as you would yourself be tendered, now, in what you would describe as your life.<ref name=Goodnight/><ref>Pinter, ''No Man's Land'', ''Four Plays'' 69–70.</ref><ref name=Tribute>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7800829.stm |title=West End pays tribute to Pinter |last=Staff |work=[[BBC News]] |date=27 December 2008 |publisher=[[British Broadcasting Corporation|BBC]] |location=London |access-date=29 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112044005/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7800829.stm |archive-date=12 November 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref>}}