Harold Pinter's "The Applicant" (1973) - Julie Andrews, Keith Michell
Channel: The Julie Andrews Archive
Date: 2020-11-07

Setting: An "office".



Characters:
- Lamb, "a young man, eager, cheerful, enthusiastic"
- Miss Piffs, "the essence of efficiency" (231)

Synopsis:
Applying for a job, Lamb, who identifies himself in the dialogue as a "physicist", is given a psychological test by Miss Piffs. She "attaches" "electrodes" and "earphones" to him and Lamb is subjected to a "piercing high pitched buzz-hum". Before he has recovered, Miss Piffs bombards him with social, medical and sexual questions, in response to which he says "in a high voice", "Well, it depends what you mean really—" . At the climax of her interrogation she "presses the other button and the piercing buzz-hum is heard again". Lamb "collapses", and "Silence" falls, as "He lies face upwards", as Miss Piffs "looks at him" and ends the sketch with "Thank you very much, Mr. Lamb. We'll let you know".