The Hothouse is a play written by Harold Pinter between two of his best-known early plays, The Birthday Party and The Caretaker. After writing The Hothouse in the winter of 1958, Pinter shelved the play following the initial commercial failure of The Birthday Party; it was first produced (directed by Pinter) and published in 1980.

The play is set in a dubious institution; referred to throughout the play as both a 'rest home' and a 'sanitorium', wherein the residents (or 'patients') are referred to by number, rather than by name. The institution's bombastic leader, Roote, has his professionalism and even his sanity constantly undermined by his two lackey underlings, the quiet and efficient Gibbs and the sleazy and alcoholic Lush. Roote's calculating and shrewd mistress, Miss Cutts, adds to the mayhem. After the supposed murder of one patient and the rape and resulting pregnancy of another, Roote, Gibbs and Lush set out to find the culprit(s), only to discover a disturbing secret.