Harold Pinter established himself as one of the most significant playwrights writing in English since the 1950’s. Even as he devoted more and more of his time to writing for the screen rather than for the stage, revivals of his early plays continued to draw audiences to mainstream productions both in London’s West End and on New York’s Broadway, as well as to smaller regional and university theaters. Many critics consider his full-length plays, especially The Birthday Party, The Caretaker, and The Homecoming, to be among the best plays written after World War II. His plays, a quirky combination of absurdism and social realism, or what one critic has called “expressionistic naturalism,” revitalized popular theater in the 1960’s and 1970’s, and his Pinteresque style remains indelibly original.