Last modified on Wed 9 Dec 2020 19.04 EST There is an âamusing storyâ about the first performance of The Dumb Waiter at the Hampstead Theatre Club in 1960, according to its director, James Roose-Evans. The run was packed out, he remembers, despite the disaster of Harold Pinterâs second play, The Birthday Party, which was cancelled after a week. But though this third play was a sensation, Roose-Evans says that âthere were all these very smart people arguing about what it was about â what the play meantâ. We know better now not to expect clearcut motivations or meanings from this tight two-hander about hitmen waiting for their next job, and its 60th anniversary production at the same (renamed) venue seems to accentuate its deliberate enigmas.