The Dumb WaiterThe Dumb Waiter by Harold Pinter is a play that was influenced by Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot. Pinter's work concerns two men, Ben and Gus, who seem to be working together even though no one really knows what they are doing. The play begins with Gus trying to fill the obvious void with his actions. Ben reads the newspaper and doesn't seem to notice the silence of the scene, but Gus tries to find something to fill the silence. The setting is that of a basement room without windows and with a door leading outside. This room contains two beds and two unidentified objects in the walls. The first lines of the play are about what Ben reads in his diary and this occurs after a long silence filled by Gus's actions of removing his shoes to find matches and cigarettes. They then begin to discuss the events in the newspaper where an old man was hit by a truck. The use of the word discussion in relation to this scene is used loosely as it really isn't a discussion as Ben doesn't really seem to want to argue with Gus, he just wants to relay the information found in the newspaper. As the play continues, there is more waiting and silence. Gus continually goes to the bathroom to occupy the time and repeatedly tries to ask Ben questions. Ben then tells Gus to make some tea and stop trying to have a conversation. This coldness from Ben towards Gus seems to foreshadow the eventual end. Gus doesn't immediately make the tea and seems to hang around. He continues to make statements such as "I hope it won't be a long job, this one" (131) and these statements create a sense of repetition. It seems like they do a job every week or so and go through the same motions before starting the job. The...... middle of paper......his rooms on the other side of the basement room. This is especially true so that there can be an entrance and exit to the toilet and kitchen as well as a door to the passage. One door will be in the center of the scene right next to the wall, this will be the kitchen and toilet door, the other will be opposite and will be the passage door. The beds will be slightly angled but almost flat against the wall to show that the room is not a formal room but just a makeshift room, and they will be placed center stage and left. Ben will start sitting on his bed, which is on the left. As shown in the scene directions, the mute waiter will be between the two beds but will be closed first, so this is not easily visible. The attached drawing shows how the stage will be organized and shows the angular shape of the room better than can be described..