It has been mentioned by esteemed voices in the theatre world that Pinter's plays, rife with long pauses and subtle witticisms, are no longer suitable for a modern audience; especially semi-autobiographical numbers such as Betrayal...
These doubters have been stupendously silenced by this particular production. Director Ian Rickson, who had the honour of directing Pinter himself once in Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape, has managed to not only pull together a star studded cast but has created a masterpiece in bleak, harrowing comedy.
First of all, and perhaps most importantly, Kristin Scott-Thomas is effortlessly brilliant as cheating-wife Emma. The reverse-chronological nature of the text makes hers a challenging role, as her character is required to shift backwards through many different stages of emotional attachment to both her on-stage husband and her clandestine lover (consequently best friends and work-mates). Particularly impressive was her ability to flip completely from repulsion to absolute adoration, terror to comely love in a matter of moments. Fantastic.
The rest of the small cast are also notably effortless. Jerry's drunken scene (Douglas Henshall) is a masterclass in creating tension, and the desperate following line 'have you ever been to the Sahara Desert?' slices the audience into welcome a nervous laugh as the emotional rollercoaster begins to slow. Robert (Ben Miles) creates a pitiful portrait of a broken man as he recounts to Jerry his solo adventure on an island off Venice, and has the audience in raptures with seemingly limitless ability to make light of such a bleak situation, in this seemingly impossible marriage of three lost individuals.
The dynamic and well crafted set is also worth mentioning; so many different scenes, ranging from a cold-water Kilburn flat to a plush Italian hotel, are born before the audiences very eyes and play a huge part in setting a bleak and cold atmosphere within which the play takes place. It's whitewashed and clean, does not distract but creates enough to remind us where each scene is set and allows viewers to attach emotions and judgements to each physical scene.
So far, this is the best show The Prompt has seen in 2011- and for that reason earns 5 well-deserved stars. The purpose of theatre, in this writer's eyes, is to awaken in an audience an understanding of the human condition they were previously unable, or unwilling, to apprehend. This production does just that, and leaves behind a chilling but fulfilling feeling and a sudden but humorous realisation of the incomprehensible and unchangeable flaws in everyday human nature. Excellent.
(***** 5 stars issued by Mr T. Prompt)
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