Betrayal

APS productions are always of a high standard and this production of Betrayal was absolutely stunning. The director, Graham Smith, and the actors had taken on a big challenge with this Pinter play and they rose to the occasion with aplomb. A small cast meant that a lot rested on each character/actor, and each had a great many lines to learn; the story is told backwards in time, a challenge for the director and actors to present and, as in Pinter plays generally, they need to let the audience know what is going on as much by what is not said, as by what is. A great deal therefore rests on the reactions and expressions of the characters during gaps in speech. All of the actors in this play were brilliant in achieving this; for example, in a very moving moment at the end of the last scene in Act 1, Robert comes back on stage after seeing Jerry out, and just holds Emma – so much was said through that gesture, without words.

From the very start, with the atmospheric jazz music of Miles Davis setting the tone for the tense, awkward exchanges between two of the three principal characters as they chatted at a table in a pub, this production held the audience enthralled. Everything about it was top-notch and worked perfectly together to tell the story: acting, direction, lighting, music, costume (there were several quick changes, deftly managed) and the simple but effectively flexible set. Subtle lighting was used to highlight or underscore key moments and turning points in the story, which had been updated from the original 1970s to a more generic period; this worked well, with a mobile phone and more contemporary costume being used, while retaining in the script the reference to one of the characters using travellers cheques on holiday.

Creative moves of furniture between scenes allowed the action to switch between settings. In the second scene, for example, the pub table became a table in Jerry’s study. A sofa was dressed with different throws and cushions and moved around to help create the different living spaces. The set, like the music, backed up the actors in creating the atmosphere. A dead pot plant on a table underlined the sad, bitter conversation between Emma and Jerry reflecting their fractured relationship – the end of the affair. When in a later scene, going back in time, the plant has ‘returned to life’ there were audible comments on this from audience members, who were clearly gripped by the story and the way it was being told. This is typical of the thoughtful, creative direction, which applied too to the pacing of the scenes and the movements within them, and the superb performances brought out from all the actors.

A wide range of emotions were required to be presented by the actors and they were totally convincing. A testimony to the effectiveness of the acting and direction was that a member of the audience behind me said, only half under her breath, ‘hypocrite’ when Emma accused her husband Robert of having affairs all the time. As well as love, anger, hope, sadness etc., there was a good deal of humour, and in a play with such tension and strong emotion this was provided an effective contrast good. It could be very subtly done at times, as in the perfectly-timed pause within Robert’s pointed to question to Emma: ‘what do you think of Jerry…. as a letter writer?’. The scene in the Italian restaurant was a masterpiece, humour contrasting with great tension, and masses of subtext going on. The interactions in that scene between the Italian waiter, Robert and Jerry  were spot-on,  as was the waiter, with his cheery helpfulness. Robert showed with his body language, movements and voice what he was thinking and feeling but wasn’t saying; as in the way he drank his wine and in the pause before he said ‘yes, you’re quite right’ in response to Jerry’s ‘she’s your wife’.

All of the acting was excellent and really impressive. Jerry’s angst was very believable, when he learns that his friend Robert has known for several years about his (Jerry’s) affair with Robert’s wife Emma. He portrayed brilliantly a blend of genuine love for Emma and warm friendship for Robert with slightly awkward humour masking the painful consciousness of how he was deceiving Robert.

Emma’s performance was both very powerful and very subtle; the play’s story doesn’t seem to give her the same agency ‘enjoyed’ by Robert and Jerry and much of her power lies in the way she responds to them, as in the way she responds to Jerry’s effusive declaration of love in the final scene. It is just as much her low key or silent reactions to his actions and torrent of words which make the scene.

The last two scenes, showing the beginning and early days of their affair, displayed superb performances from Emma and Jerry and great direction. There was a nice touch of Emma and Jerry having their fingers entwined, he on the chair, she behind him. Jerry was particularly good in the final scene in which he declares his love in a drunken state. Presenting drunkenness convincingly on stage isn’t easy, and, like Robert in the restaurant, he succeeded.

The lead actor's performance was outstanding, a masterclass of apparently effortless, natural acting, showing that less can be more. He was able to indicate a great deal with subtle looks and gestures, as when he rolled up the sleeves of his sweater when he and Jerry had agreed to play squash, and was wonderful in his presentation of quiet aggression. Early on in Act 2, for example, he knows about Jerry’s letter to Emma and that something is going on between them, but instead of bringing it out in to the open, he seethes with tension, leaving the audience gripped.

Congratulations to all involved in this excellent production which was moving, clever and brilliant.

 

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