BETRAYAL till 23 August

Oxford

BETRAYAL
by Harold Pinter

The Peter Hall Company at Oxford Playhouse To 23 August 2003
7.30pm 16,19,21 August
Mat 2.30pm 14,23 August
Runs 1hr 25min No interval

TICKETS: 01865 305305
www.oxfordplayhouse.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 12 August

New realisations in a largely very good production
Every good new production - and this is largely very good opens up new realisations. I'd never realised how much of the story occurs after publisher Robert's learned his wife Emma's having an affair with his friend, literary agent Jerry.

This is because the play's general tendency is to move back in time from post-affair to its start. It actually moves in segments. Most of the backward leaps are followed by scenes set shortly afterwards. Covering a decade, we go back by years then forward by hours.

Male friendship and male-female desire conflict. It's friendship which persists; several times Emma is locked out of the men's lives. The most desolate moment isn't the final part of the history ie the opening scene. By then Janie Dee's Emma has recovered equipoise, with self-contained sidelong glances and a masking smile.

It's the period before (played after) where the love's running out. Jerry calls by at Robert's for a quick drink. Emma comes down. As he leaves Jerry says goodbye to his friend, ignoring her. Dee's desolately simple 'Goodbye' and a minimal slump in her chair illuminating her misery.

Not that it's a surprise considering their final meeting in the Kilburn flat they've shared. Energy-drained acceptance of the end is beautifully played by Dee and Aden Gillett's Jerry. It's playing that doesn't seem alienatingly 'Pinter', but its rhythm and reserve are devastatingly accurate.

Hugo Speer's Robert is too undifferentiated in voice, but plays the Venice scene confirming suspicions of Emma with tellingly overt menace. Looming over Emma, he psychologically forces her confession. His shouted 'Sorry?' echoing her apology shows deep anger and hurt.

Yet his resentment against Jerry is limited to an embarrassingly aggressive, drunk Italian restaurant meal Gillett emphasises the loudness as he looks around to see its impact on others. Jerry himself will show (ie has shown) similar jealousy in running down the ability of Emma's new author-lover.

Set against John Gunter's set, backed by a pile of detritus from the characters' past, Peter Hall's meticulous direction ensures this is a fine revival.

Emma: Janie Dee
Jerry: Aden Gillett
Robert: Hugo Speer
Waiter: James Supervia

Director: Peter Hall
Designer: John Gunter
Lighting: Peter Mumford
Sound: Gregory Clarke
Associate director: Thea Sharrock

2003-08-14 11:09:48