A middle-aged woman named Deborah, who has been in a comatose state for thirty years as a result of contracting "sleepy sickness," encephalitis lethargica, awakes with a mind still that of a sixteen-year-old.
Deborah reawakens to a changed world, attempting to take what appear to her to be rather shocking revelations in graceful stride, but ends the play with the ironic observation about her sister and brother-in-law that can only go so far towards accepting the realities that they have allowed her to know.
According to his note in the published text, Pinter's idea for the play was inspired by his reading of the book Awakenings by neurologist Oliver Sacks.
A Kind of Alaska was first performed in the Cottesloe Theatre, in London, on 14 October 1982, as part of a trilogy of Pinter's plays entitled Other Places.
The original cast included Judi Dench as Deborah, Paul Rogers as Hornby, and Anna Massey as Pauline.