By Nigel Powlson

BEFORE Tarantino or the Coen brothers there was Harold Pinter.

Sharp dialogue and tense plotting made the playwright a precursor of today's most celebrated film auteurs, according to actor Joe Tucker.

Joe knows a thing or two about film himself, having written and directed his own feature, Lava, a few years ago.

Now he's performing in a Pinter double bill at The Guildhall Theatre and says he sees definite parallels between the great playwright and modern movie-makers.

"He's the kind of author you get into when you start acting and discover what great theatre and great writing is all about," says Joe, who can be seen in the first play, The Dumb Waiter.

"I hadn't read the play for many years so it was great to look at it again and remember how dramatic and punchy it is.

"It actually reminded me of my favourite film-makers, the Coen brothers. It prefigures their work.

"They tread that fine line between comedy and menace and although the play is 50 years old and set in the 1950s, it's still vibrant and modern.

"The story is about two hit men in a basement waiting for orders and feels modern, especially as it inspired the recent film In Bruges [with Colin Farell and Brendan Gleason].

"It's set in an underground, ceramic-tiled room with two rusty old beds in and the two men are waiting for instructions.

"It also prefigures Tarantino, as they talk in non-sequitur conversations. They even have their own version of Pulp Fiction's burger conversation – except it's about Eccles cakes."

The Dumb Waiter is a two-hander, with Joe joined in the cast by old friend James Holmes.

"I cast James in my film," he says. "And he alerted me when this was being cast.

"We said, 'wouldn't it be strange if we both got it'... and we did.

"It reminds me of the characters we played in Lava: there is a slight resonance to the guys in the film – basically 'Dumb and Dumber with Guns' on a revenge mission during the Notting Hill Carnival.

"It's not a million miles away from the kind of set-up for the characters Ben and Gus in this play.

"When people hear that it's abut two hitmen they think American movies.

"But this is still quintessentially British: late 50s, very dysfunctional, Eccles-cake-eating men.

"It's not hard to believe they are hitmen because they would have had a military Second World War background.

"It makes sense; it's not a big leap."

The Dumb Waiter is the first of the two Pinters; after the break it will be a later work, A Kind of Alaska.

"Both plays will complement each other," says Joe.

"They show Pinter at different points in his career but will work well together. And although The Dumb Waiter is just one act, it seems perfect at that kind of length. It's a very fast, exciting, tension-filled hour."

It will also showcase a playwright neglected in Derby.

Joe says: "There's a perception that Pinter's highbrow and that you have to be reverential.

"But the script is hilarious and so modern sounding. It's not stuffy at all. It's great writing, not an ounce of fat on it, it's beautifully crafted."

And after The Dumb Waiter is over, will Joe be rushing out to watch A Kind Of Alaska?

"We are all doing the man's work. It feels like a team," says Joe. "I will definitely be watching – if there's room."

A PAIR OF PINTERS

WHERE: The Guildhall Theatre, Derby.

WHEN: February 4-27.

TICKETS: From £8.

BOX OFFICE: 01332 255800.