****
Harold Pinter’s 1978 account of a faded adulterous affair, told more or less backwards, is both touching and intimate in Ian Rickson’s sensitive production.
At its heart is Kristin Scott Thomas, growing younger gracefully as Emma, gallery-running wife of publisher Robert (Ben Miles, conveying the pent-up potential for violence beneath a cultured exterior) and, for seven years, mistress of literary agent Jerry, her husband’s oldest – and married – friend.
Douglas Henshall’s Jerry struggles to convey the subtleties of his character, but this detracts only marginally from an emotionally acute 90 minutes (based on Pinter’s own adulterous liaison) which travels back through layers of deception – from stilted small talk to the first portentous kiss nine years earlier.
At its heart is Kristin Scott Thomas, growing younger gracefully as Emma, gallery-running wife of publisher Robert (Ben Miles, conveying the pent-up potential for violence beneath a cultured exterior) and, for seven years, mistress of literary agent Jerry, her husband’s oldest – and married – friend.
Douglas Henshall’s Jerry struggles to convey the subtleties of his character, but this detracts only marginally from an emotionally acute 90 minutes (based on Pinter’s own adulterous liaison) which travels back through layers of deception – from stilted small talk to the first portentous kiss nine years earlier.
Comedy, Panton Street, SW1Y 4DN (0844 871 7622) Tube: Piccadilly Circus betrayaltheplay.com Until August 20 (£20 - £49.50)
No comments:
Post a Comment