Harold Pinter and Samuel Beckett are amongst the pioneers of the theatre of the absurd, a style of theatre that sprung from the insecurities of World War II. Seen in this context, their work is deeply rooted in the postmodern idea that life is incongruous and without reason. <br><br>Unlike Beckett, however, Pinter presents this hopeless state in a deceptively realistic setting. In <em>The Birthday Party</em> (1957), he uses a credible dramatic situation: a seaside boarding house run by a couple, where two strangers McCann and Goldberg arrive to take the lodger Stanley away. But this does not resolve into a credible plot or any logical, linear action.<br><br>The audience is left confused, curious and wanting to find out what Stanley did. But herein lies Pinter’s point: there is no specific reason why these figures have come into play; they are only there as a reminder of the uncertain and threatening forces that permeate the characters’ lives in their postmodern setting, and despite Stanley’s attempts at protecting himself, he is rendered unable to control his situation:<br><br>Goldberg, Act II <br><blockquote>You’re dead. You can’t live, you can’t think, you can’t love. You’re dead. You’re a plague gone bad. There’s no juice in you. You’re nothing but an odour.”</blockquote><br><br>The Birthday Party truly captures the desire for individuality in the postmodern world as it portrays the characters’ desperate attempts to keep themselves to themselves in a world that brutally does not allow them to.<br>