Burton points out, both characters are continually questioning and con-
firming matters that they both know, that they know they both know, and
that the audience knows they know (1980, pp. 10–12). In Pinter’s dialogues
there tends to be no real movement towards engagement or understand-
ing, though menace may lurk below the surface and suddenly explode. His
plays satirise the way we often make conversation for the sake of it, in
order to give an appearance of communication when there is not really
any. But they also explore the dark, violent results of inadequate com-
munication.
For Exercise 4a, you might want to create a situation between two
people who have the potential to communicate, though they may not be
able to consistently implement this. Show how high levels of com-
munication dissipate into low levels and vice versa.
Other writers explore ways of communicating which are unusual or
unconventional, and this is the focus of Exercise 4b. Unusual communica-
tion can highlight the circumscribed nature of most social exchange. Mark
Haddon’s novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time ,for
example, centres on the consciousness of a highly intelligent but autistic
boy called Christopher and his interactions with others. The following is a
short extract when Christopher is talking to a neighbour about the murder
of the dog Wellington. Christopher is trying to find out who killed him:
Example 6.5: Unconventional communication
So I said, ‘Do you know anything about Wellington being killed?’
And she said, ‘I heard about it yesterday. Dreadful. Dreadful.’
I said, ‘Do you know who killed him?’
And she said, ‘No, I don’t.’
I replied, ‘Somebody must know because the person who killed
Wellington knows that they killed Wellington. Unless they were a
mad person and didn’t know what they were doing. Or unless they
had amnesia.’
And she said, ‘Well, I suppose you’re probably right.’
I said, ‘Thank you for helping me with my investigation.’
And she said, ‘You’re Christopher, aren’t you?’
I said, ‘Yes, I live at number 36.’
And she said, ‘We haven’t talked before, have we?’
I said, ‘No. I don’t like talking to strangers. But I’m doing detective
work.’
And she said, ‘I see you every day, going to school.’
I didn’t reply to this.
And she said, ‘It’s very nice of you to come and say hello.’
I didn’t reply to this either because Mrs Alexander was doing whatDialoguing 121