Victoria Station and Blackout

by Harold Pinter, Riccardo Mini

London, not long ago. A taxi moves through the suspended atmosphere of the night. The silence is suddenly broken by the voice of a minicab controller who is trying to get in contact with the driver. A singular exchange begins between the two men. A mysterious passenger and the fantasy of a love accompany the characters on what could be their last ride. Undefined place, near future. Steven Spielberg on the assembly line. In a society torn by war and epidemics a group of human beings working on a mysterious machine try to piece together snatches of a message that is increasingly hard to understand. The juxtaposition of texts by two authors, the great English dramatist and a young Italian playwright, results in a peculiar combination: the common element is a game involving the search for a place, metaphorical and physical, in which to meet. It is a difficult game because the characters apply different rules, as if each of them were moving in a universe of their own, which has nothing to do with that of the person they are talking to. As a consequence what appears normal to one may not do so to the other, with sometimes comic repercussions. But the need for dialogue is urgent, essential. It is necessary to agree on the rules, to understand what game the other is playing and above all to find a field on which to play, a common space of action.