REVIEW: ‘Betrayal’ on Broadway
Photo: From left, Zawe Ashton, Charlie Cox and Tom Hiddleston star in Betrayal on Broadway. Photo courtesy of Marc Brenner / Provided by O&M DKC with permission.
Harold Pinter’s plays are brutal masterpieces, often depicting relationships falling apart and wayward characters with an equal measure of desperation and cunning. Last year, Jamie Lloyd’s theater company in London interpreted the playwright’s one-acts, and the collective result was thrilling and revealing, no doubt making the theatrical season one of the true highlights of the West End calendar.
The culmination of Lloyd’s Pinter exploration was a new production of Betrayal, considered one of the essential dramas from the playwright. Featuring a cast of Tom Hiddleston, Zawe Ashton and Charlie Cox, the play enraptured sold-out audiences in London in the late spring and quickly transferred across the Pond to the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on Broadway. The celebrated run of this 90-minute play concludes Sunday, Dec. 8.
Hiddleston and Ashton play Robert and Emma, a married couple who are keeping secrets from each other. One of the big secrets is that Emma has been having an affair with Robert’s best friend, Jerry (Cox).
Pinter has the action play out in reverse chronological order, so instead of watching this marriage fall apart as the affair takes off in a nearby flat, the audience is able to first witness the aftermath and then move back in time to the first “betrayal.”
The cast is uniformly excellent in their respective roles. Ashton is powerful and strong when she needs to be, yet also hurt and dismayed by the whirlwind of her life. She loves her time with Jerry, and she has grown distant from Robert, the father of her children. However, when she finds out that Robert has been having an affair as well, she realizes their entire relationship is a sham, with hardly a truth to be found.
Hiddleston, a bonafide movie star, is genuinely moving and impressive on stage. He suspects things have gone awry in the relationship with his wife and the separate relationship with his best friend, and yet he cannot put his finger on exactly how the two strains are connected. Hiddleston also brings some humor to the role, especially a telling scene when he has lunch with Jerry at an Italian restaurant. The actor chomps into his prosciutto and melon with ferocity; he drinks his white wine in gulps and insists Jerry have his glass filled to the brim. When the waiter takes a slight pause to answer a question, he blows up and starts yelling, all likely because he has nothing left to hold onto in life.
Cox is an actor fully in control of his artistic craft. He has a difficult part to play because he genuinely cares for Emma and loves the secretive life in their tucked-away flat on the other side of London, but he also must be with Robert on a regular basis. And it would be difficult for anyone to stare their best friend in the face and offer lie after lie after lie.
Lloyd has the action play out on a bare stage with a small central section that moves in circles. This allows scenes to melt into each other with ease and simplicity, and by having the third actor stay on stage while the other two talk gives the proceedings a deeper contemplation and stalker-ish mentality. There’s one haunting sequence when Jerry is with Emma and being open about their relationship, and Jerry actually sits right next to Robert — although Robert is not in the scene; he’s just staring ahead, dejected and brooding.
The director, perhaps the preeminent Pinter interpreter after this past year, never skips a beat with his cast in Betrayal. The overt themes of betrayal and love are showcased, and the secondary themes of violence and friendship are never sidestepped. For example, the three characters seem like nice enough people, but Pinter has deceptively brutal lines slip into the dialogue. Lloyd offers a beat or two around these recitations, such as when Robert talks about abusing his wife. The character shrugs it off as an action he’s only done a couple times, and one must wonder what is the internal reaction of Emma, who is stuck in that relationship, and Jerry, who loves Emma and does not want to commiserate with Robert.
The scenery by Soutra Gilmour is basic and fitting. The backdrop of the action, which moves upstage to downstage throughout the evening, is a stormy marble wall that deemphasizes the background and focuses the audience’s attention on the actors. The props are minimal: the tablecloth purchased on a Venice vacation serves as a symbol of Jerry and Emma’s love, and in the next scene, that tablecloth sets up a lunch date between Jerry and Robert. This seamless transition works so well for the drama.
Betrayal was the capstone to a remarkable theatrical season dedicated to Pinter in London, and thankfully the pièce de résistance made it to New York. This production rivals any other recent Pinter production on Broadway, including Old Times, No Man’s Land and The Homecoming. This one is difficult to shake and has proved almost intrusive in its unforgettability, from the first time I saw it in London to the most recent time in New York. These characters and their faults offer lessons for those who know how to care and those who know how to betray.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Betrayal, by Harold Pinter and directed by Jamie Lloyd, stars Zawe Ashton, Charlie Cox and Tom Hiddleston. Plays through Dec. 8 at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on Broadway. Click here for more information and tickets. Rating: 
