THEATRE: Comedy Theatre, London
DATE: 19-08-2011
TIME: 17:30
WITH: Kirsten Scott Thomas, Douglas Henshall, Ben Miles
DIRECTOR: Ian Rickson
“Betrayal” is often said to be Nobel Prize-winner Harold Pinter’s most accessible play and that may very well be true, but that takes nothing away from its greatness. Ian Rickson’s (The Children's Hour, Jerusalem) revelatory new production powerfully shows what a masterpiece of structure, economy and yes emotion the play is. The trio of actors – Kristin Scott Thomas, Douglas Henshall and Ben Miles - portraying a seven-year-affair in reverse are a perfect fit for their parts and make sure the devastating feelings of pain and loss hit home. For me this is the definitive production of a masterpiece. It had me riveted throughout its uninterrupted 90 minutes.
Douglas Henshall, Kristin Scott Thomas & Ben Miles
Betrayal opened in 1978 at the National Theatre and was unfavourably reviewed by several critics who deemed the subject matter unworthy of a master playwright. This did not stop the play from entering the canon and was turned into a film in 1983 starring Jeremy Irons and Sir Ben Kingsley. It is constantly being produced all over the world. Just last season there was a major Dutch revival with Rick Engelkes and Bastiaan Ragas. Personally I’ve seen two productions: a Broadway revival by David Leveaux with Juliette Binoche, Liev Schreiber and John Slattery; and one by Roger Michel at the Donmar Warehouse with Toby Stephens and Samuel West. Still, this latest production caught me totally by surprise by its power and made me experience the play and characters as for the first time. It makes all the forms of betrayal in the play crystal clear and concisely shows at what cost to the characters. There is betrayal in marriage, between friends, adulterers, and even of youthful ideals.
The production starts with Emma (Kristin Scott Thomas) mournfully sitting on the bed on which she betrayed her husband Robert (Ben Miles), who is a publisher, with literary agent and Robert's best friend Jerry (Douglas Henshall). As the date is projected on the screen Emma moves stage left to the pub where she is to have her final meeting with Jerry. It is a sucker punch scene with Scott Thomas artfully communicating all Emma’s emotions lurking just beneath the surface of her gorgeous alabaster skin and Henshall finding laughs in the text that I did not know were there. Even the brief touching of their hands communicates such loss and sadness. After this I knew I was in great hands (pun intended) and sat on the edge of my seat for all that was to come. I would not be disappointed.
The production unfolds on an ingenious, ever transforming set by Jeremy Herbert, that is as economic as the text. The effective juxtaposing of the place of betrayal and the pub at the start is just one example of the clever design and mise-en-scene. Even the projected timeline here is appropriately fractured and this production clearly demonstrates that Pinter’s reverse chronology is no mere gimmick. On the contrary it gives the audience great insight into the various betrayals and how each character struggles for power (a prevalent theme in Pinter) through knowledge of it.
Kristin Scott Thomas is quite extraordinary and emotionally charged as Emma. Scenes like the one in the Kilburn flat where she realises that Jerry is never going to leave his wife and the one in which Robert confronts her about the affair are revelatory and devastating, because of all the conflicting emotions played out on her incredibly expressive face. It will be a great loss to cinema and theatre if she ever decides to use botox or get a face lift, because her face can convey all emotions known to man all the way up the gods. This is third time I have seen her on stage and she has never been anything but mesmerising. She is a real gift to the theatre.
In order for this play to really work all the players have to be equally matched and fortunately this is the case here. Ben Miles, looking and sounding like the young Pinter with sideburns and all, has a fascinating burning internal anger. When he brutally lashes out Miles makes it perfectly clear that Robert is hurting inside like hell as well. He also conveys Robert’s enjoyment of power over Emma and Jerry with great skill. Douglas Henshall’s Jerry is a delight and Robert’s complete opposite. He portrays him with hardly any subtext. Jerry lives in the moment and is clearly not the brightest. He is often clueless, which makes for welcome laughs in an otherwise tragic tale.
The incredible Ian Rickson – former artistic director of the Royal Court, where he directed Scott Thomas as Arkadina in a historic The Seagull – has done wonders for this play. One of the things I noticed was the emphasis of hands touching. Often here they convey the essence of a scene. Whether it is that first moment in the pub, a handshake, hitting, or lustfully grabbing in the famous final scene.
That scene truly is devastating here because of how well everything that has gone before has been executed. It pinpoints the moment that Emma and Jerry decide to have an affair and is one of the great endings of a play. Here it makes the heart skip a beat and causes a lump in the throat. This is a revelatory production that fills the famous Pinter silences anew with great insight and artistry. If I had the chance I would have watched it again and again. It is that rich.
What a thrill that a fine production like this has been a hit on the London commercial stage and there are rumors that it is headed to Broadway, where it will undoubtedly do equally well at the box office.
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