Betrayal – Pinter Theatre, London – Review
For the last six months, the Harold Pinter Theatre in London has performed a range of Pinter’s one-act plays, curated by Jamie Lloyd. For the final play in the season, Lloyd directs Pinter’s reversed-romance Betrayal, and it is a revelation. The production takes us through the stages of an interwoven relationship between Robert, his wife Emma, and their mutual friend Jerry, over the course of nine years.
This is an immaculate production, the minimalist set and stark lighting allowing the loaded pauses and repressed meanings within Pinter’s work to fill the space, and breathe, as we watch the characters on stage suffocate under the weight of the revelations that come to light as secrets are revealed and worlds collapse. The production’s three accomplished actors – Tom Hiddleston as Robert, Zawe Ashton as Emma and Charlie Cox as Jerry – capture every agonising and exhilarating facet of the central love triangle.
The production opens at the close, with the rosy glow of nostalgia surrounding Emma and Jerry as they meet for a drink two years after the end of their seven-year affair. The emotional stakes may be high, but this reunion is repressively polite, filled with tight smiles and great swathes of silence. Concentric circles on the floor revolve as time moves backwards and over the course of a taut 90 minutes, we journey back through nine years of deception, discoveries and devastation. It is a story powered by lust, seduction, sex, lies, power struggles and violence that is terrifying in its casual nonchalance – all played out in frigid pleasantries.
Zawe Ashton (Emma), Charlie Cox (Jerry) and Tom Hiddleston (Robert) in Betrayal directed by Jamie Lloyd. Photo by Marc Brenner
Almost every scene is a duologue, but the absent character is always physically present on stage – because in a sense, they can never leave – pacing or hovering in the background like a spectre. The scene which showcases this best comes in the play’s second half, where the paternity of Robert’s daughter is questioned, whilst at the same time, stressing that she is entirely his. Robert sits on a chair holding his daughter as the stage’s revolve moves him around Emma and Jerry as they enjoy a stolen afternoon in Kilburn. The scene reaches its emotional peak when the revolve brings Robert and Jerry into each other’s eye-line, as the action freezes and the audience holds its breath.
As Robert, Tom Hiddleston is simply outstanding. Perfectly-postured and long-limbed in a slim-fit suit, he is the epitome of stiff-upper-lipped intelligence, masking his inner turmoil with thinly-veiled geniality. However, this geniality collapses into silent, streaming tears as Emma reveals her betrayal, his clipped diction takes on a distinctly disquieting snarl when Robert suggests thrashing Jerry on a squash court, and his flippant self-assurance when describing the urge towards domestic violence as, ‘the old itch, you understand’, is horrifying. Zawe Ashton’s Emma presents a sunny facade which hides the more painful truth that lurks beneath, and she too is outstanding in the pivotal scene with Hiddleston. Charlie Cox’s Jerry is the lightest of the play’s three characters. Emotionally, Jerry suffers the least of the trio, which makes his affable nature all the more disarming in the moments when the audience are reminded that actually, Jerry is married too – he is not an innocent party in all of this.
Tom Hiddleston (Robert) and Zawe Ashton (Emma) in Betrayal directed by Jamie Lloyd. Photo by Marc Brenner.
The powerhouse strength of Hiddleston’s performance is played out best in Robert’s confrontation with Jerry, just days after discovering that his wife and supposed best friend are five years deep into an affair. Instead of a cathartic explosion of anger and betrayal, the exchange is a pressure chamber of politeness, as Robert makes blithe remarks about the state of contemporary literature as he brutally stabs at his meal, and knocks back multiple glasses of wine, whilst Charlie Cox’s Jerry maintains his jovial self-denial with similar gusto. This sharp dialogue is characteristic of Pinter, but it is at its funniest and most intensely human in the context of failed romance – where the true heart of the matter is always left unsaid.
Betrayal may be Pinter’s most famous and oft-performed work, but Jamie Lloyd and the cast have done something almost otherworldly with it. The spectacular chemistry between the trio of actors and Lloyd’s attention to detail and inspired staging makes this a triumphant culmination of the ‘Pinter at the Pinter’ season. A beautifully understated production, it is an achingly beautiful look into the deepest part of the human psyche, allowing us to see ourselves in every glance, every tear, every forced smile and polite exchange. Simply sublime.
Runs until 8th June 2019. Tickets available from the Pinter Theatre website.