STAGE REVIEW : ‘A Pinch of Pinter’ at Rose Theatre

Harold Pinter is a playwright who fiddles with words but in “A Pinch of Pinter with a Twist” at the Rose Theatre, the actors don’t use his words. They are members of a new group of deaf actors, using American Sign Language. Pinter survives beautifully and, surprisingly, so do his famous pauses.

Directed by Leslie Byrne, the production is a good chance to see some of Pinter’s unfortunately obscure “cabaret pieces.”

The winner of the pair is “Night,” an oblique and often funny conversation in which a couple tries to remember the foggy details of their first meeting. It features compelling performances by Charles (C. J.) Jones as the Man, and Vae as the Woman.

More interesting textually is the longer “Silence,” but it’s less effective because Lilly Benedict as the girl straddling a romantic fence, and Donald Lyons as her older, gentler lover, don’t have a firm grasp on their characterizations. Ken Elks is the only one to have evolved a full persona.