With Harold Pinter it's as much what isn't said as what is, that provides the action. In
Betrayal, a backwards look at adultery, the glib conversations that hide devastating hurts are almost unbearable. Putting box office stars in the lead roles is the packaging of pain in pretty wrappings.
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| The hoarse whisperers |
Betrayal starts with the end of the affair between Emma and Gerry, working its way back through nine years of cheating and lies to the magical moment where lust reared its head. Gerry was best man when Emma married Robert. He's Robert's best friend. This does not, however, impede his molestation of Emma or their attempt at happy families in a Kilburn flat where they cook and canoodle like newly-weds before returning to their spouses and children. Based on Pinter's own affair with the sainted Joan Bakewell - the thinking man's crumpet of the sixties - this is no celebration of individuality. It is a cruel, careful unpicking of the romance and joy until all that's left is a series of evasions and destructive self delusions.
Ian Rickson's production at The Comedy Theatre has Kristin Scott Thomas as Emma. As magnetic on stage as on screen, her every expression tells a story. It's hard to take your eyes off her. It's a shame Douglas Henshall, charismatic beyond decency as Satan in
The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, plays Gerry as a weak, bumbling wimp. There isn't a fit: how could Emma fall for him? He is too much the antithesis of the fixed, masterful Robert (Ben Miles) who masks his pain behind the formalities of intellectual discourse; a man who can admit to hitting his wife, but even as he forces the detail of her betrayal, cannot stop the act.
In Conclusion: A brilliant play well done. Thankfully it's only ninety minutes. Two acts would almost certainly impact on both the divorce and suicide rates amongst the audience as they unpicked the detail on the journey home.
References
Kristin Scott Thomas interviewed in The Guardian
Comedy Theatre, overview
Paul Taylor in The Independent
I agree with this review almost entirely; Henshall really lets it down, the other two are great, Kristin is mesmerising. But I also felt that it should have been produced in a smaller theatre, as sitting at the back of the Stalls, you could not see facial expressions clearly and relied more on body language, of which the men had almost none, so a lot of nuance was lost. I did use the little red binoculars provided at the theatre, but it wasn't enough to convey Kristin's subtlety and was physically unpleasant to use for a glasses wearer. If this had been staged in the round, in a more intimate space, some of the impression of cold forensic examination would have been alleviated by the impression of being inside the action rather than inspectors at the human zoo.
ReplyDeleteI also felt the overall tone of the production was a little too cold, there was not enough sense of emotions flowing, partly due to Henshall's miscasting, partly to the lack of chemistry, and partly the pacing- Pinterian pauses in speech should be reflected by occasional pauses in the movement, to give us a chance to FEEL the passion / the denial / the anger, etc.
Having said that, few people write like HP, few women are as transcendentally attractive as KST, and for those two things alone I'd recommend this to anyone.
Oops - this was meant to me a short comment! Sorry.
Regards
HS
Interestingly, a number of critics commented that Ben Miles as Robert looks and feels like Pinter and I was intrigued by that, particularly as he was the more attractive of the two men despite being almost mechanistic in his movements. In that respect your comment about body language is telling: I had the same response watching Kenneth Branagh in Ivanov a few years back - great if you're near the front, but for those of us in the cheap seats the Donmar West End production lacked action or animation. It was effectively one dimensional. Re Betrayal, it's the test of a great play isn't it, that despite misgivings, it is absolutely worth seeing:)
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! THere are some works of art whose imperfections just add to the impact. And that work of art is so beautiful in its structure alone, it can't help but keep going.
ReplyDeleteI first saw it in Paris 30 years ago, with my beloved Sami Frey. My favourite actor ever. I don't even remember who the woman was! TRAHISONS, it was called.
Then I recall a movie, with Jeremy Irons and Patricia Hodge, if memory serves.
Pinter is Pinter.