I confess to having been bored by Pinter’s plays; after a little while i stopped going. i did see zero mostel in rinoceros, after which it’s hard to imagine skinny old olivier in the role, but i loved the play.

The issue of art vs. goodness is very old, ask socrates. in modern times, the times after the french revolution, the times in which the word ‘intellectual’ took on meaning, most artists and intellectuals saw themselves in opposition to ‘the system’ or ‘the society.’ Epatez le bourgeois, etc. Pinter was one of those. But such a posture imposes loneliness, and that proves unbearable for most of the artists/intellectuals. So they became easy prey for the ideological mass movements, in which they imagine themselves as leaders, or at least as little consiglieri to The Prince. That was Pound, for example. He really adored il Duce and he really hated America. Look at all the deep thinkers who really loved Stalin. Or Mao.

Last thought: it is not unusual for a great artist to overcome his own ideological failings. Brecht wrote Mother Courage imagining it would be the ultimate anti-war play, but when you see it on the stage, it’s a heartrending hymn to a brave woman who loses her men to war, but the war ultimately becomes a noble calling. I don’t think Pinter ever overcame his ideology.