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Matthew Pyke is one of the most prestigious theatre directors in London. He works in a freeform style in which he asks his actors to develop characters, and then employs a writer to write a play using the created characters. The process takes months. He expresses an interest in Karim after seeing his performance in Shadwell's The Jungle Book, and casts him in his next play. Though Shadwell warns Karim that Pyke is intense, unpredictable, and will destroy Karim, Karim takes the part anyway. Karim does discover that Shadwell wasn't wrong about Pyke: Pyke plays mind games with the actors, including making secret predictions at the beginning of the production about who will have sex with whom, and then revealing his (correct) predictions at a party in New York. When he reveals that he was responsible for orchestrating Eleanor's interest and relationship with Karim, Karim is extremely hurt and angry. Pyke and his wife, Marlene, are also interested in group sex, and he's very open with his actors about this and his sexual interests in general. When he and Marlene invite Karim and Eleanor to have sex with them at their house, Pyke tries to force Karim to give him oral sex. This, coupled with Pyke's interest in having sex with Eleanor, begins to sour Karim's admiration for Pyke. Despite this, Pyke does teach Karim what a polished theatre production looks like.
Matthew Pyke Quotes in The Buddha of Suburbia
The The Buddha of Suburbia quotes below are all either spoken by Matthew Pyke or refer to Matthew Pyke. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part 2, Chapter 12
Quotes
As I sat there I began to recognize that this was one of the first times in my life I'd been aware of having a moral dilemma. Before, I'd done exactly what I wanted; desire was my guide and I was inhibited by nothing but fear. But now, at the beginning of my twenties, something was growing in me. Just as my body had changed at puberty, now I was developing a sense of guilt, a sense not only of how I appeared to others, but of how I appeared to myself...
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With their poking into life's odd corners, Pyke and Marlene seemed to me to be more like intrepid journalists than swimmers in the sensual. Their desire to snuggle up to real life betrayed a basic separation from it. And their obsession with how the world worked just seemed another form of self-obsession.
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Part 2, Chapter 15
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And we pursued English roses as we pursued England; by possessing these prizes, this kindness and beauty, we stared defiantly into the eye of the Empire and all its self-regard—into the eye of Hairy Back, into the eye of the Great Fucking Dane. We became part of England and yet proudly stood outside it.
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Matthew Pyke Quotes in The Buddha of Suburbia
The The Buddha of Suburbia quotes below are all either spoken by Matthew Pyke or refer to Matthew Pyke. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part 2, Chapter 12
Quotes
As I sat there I began to recognize that this was one of the first times in my life I'd been aware of having a moral dilemma. Before, I'd done exactly what I wanted; desire was my guide and I was inhibited by nothing but fear. But now, at the beginning of my twenties, something was growing in me. Just as my body had changed at puberty, now I was developing a sense of guilt, a sense not only of how I appeared to others, but of how I appeared to myself...
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
With their poking into life's odd corners, Pyke and Marlene seemed to me to be more like intrepid journalists than swimmers in the sensual. Their desire to snuggle up to real life betrayed a basic separation from it. And their obsession with how the world worked just seemed another form of self-obsession.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Part 2, Chapter 15
Quotes
And we pursued English roses as we pursued England; by possessing these prizes, this kindness and beauty, we stared defiantly into the eye of the Empire and all its self-regard—into the eye of Hairy Back, into the eye of the Great Fucking Dane. We became part of England and yet proudly stood outside it.
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