'In 1958 The Birthday Party was dismissed by all but a few critics and closed after one week''s run in London. Since then Harold Pinter has come to be acknowledged as ''our best living playwright'' (Irving Wardle, The Times) Martin Esslin''s study of Pinter''s plays has become a standard work since its publication in 1970. This sixth, revised edition - published to mark Pinter''s 70th birthday and updated to cover his most recent plays, Moonlight, Ashes to Ashes and Celebration - offers a comprehensive survey of the whole span of Harold Pinter''s writing career by one of the most distinguished commentators on modern theatre. ''It will certainly not be the last book on Pinter, but seems bound to remain one of the best'' John Russell Taylor ''Holds its place as the most straightforwardly useful account of Pinter''s work to date'' Times Literary Supplement'