As acclaimed as it is, British playwright Harold Pinter’s “Betrayal” isn’t exactly everybody’s cup of tea. Freddie Ashley, artistic director at Actor’s Express and former literary manager for the Alliance, has called it nothing less than one of the five greatest dramas of the last century. But one man’s treasured classic may be another’s overrated rubbish.
Ashley also frequently directs for Lawrenceville’s Aurora Theatre (“A Body of Water,” “Academy”), where his latest undertaking happens to be a suitably stately, if oh-so-monotonous, staging of “Betrayal.”
Spanning several years in nine short scenes, the 75-minute play chronicles an adulterous affair between Jerry, a married London literary agent, and Emma, the wife of his best friend, Robert, a publisher. The able cast features real-life husband and wife Mark and Tess Malis Kincaid as Jerry and Emma, and Aurora artistic director Anthony Rodriguez as Robert.
Maybe it’s just a British thing, but “Betrayal” might rank as the most dispassionate illicit romance you’ll ever see. You could define the characters or their situation as a “love triangle,” except without the love. There’s a calculated detachment and coolness about them — too much stiff-upper-lip posturing, not enough signs of tangible chemistry and warmth.
Their fashions change over the course of the story (from 1968 to 1977), but they don’t grow or develop into very sympathetic or even interesting people. Consequently, for all of the pedantic, cryptic dialogue (plus plenty of Pinter’s patented pregnant pauses), that diminishes a lot of the dramatic tension in either the origins or the outcome of the whole affair.
Too big a deal is often made of the fact that much of the play unfolds in reverse chronology, because as many of its scenes actually take place in forward motion as in backward order. An ingenious touch or a pretentious gimmick? And what difference does it really make in any event?
The Kincaids and Rodriguez do as best they can to personalize their roles and, for the most part, their English accents sound natural and proper as opposed to affected and heavy. Despite its passage of time, the drama doesn’t truly seem to move or go anywhere, which tends to give a static quality to Ashley’s pacing. The show’s period atmosphere is mainly reflected in time-and-place title cards that are superimposed on stage at the beginning of each scene.
That “Betrayal” is hardly a commercial crowd-pleaser certainly makes Aurora’s attempt at it admirable, if little more. Given the comparatively light opening-night turnout, perhaps the company should have considered mounting it on a smaller scale in its intimate studio space.
Coming from midtown Atlanta, say, you could invest as much time getting to and from the theater as you spend watching the play. Those who’ve acquired a taste for Pinter may find it worth the trip. Others beware and count your blessings that it doesn’t drone on any longer than it does.
THEATER REVIEW
“Betrayal”
Grade: C+
Through Oct. 28. 8 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays; 2:30 p.m. Saturdays-Sundays; 10 a.m. Wednesday (Oct. 24). $16-$30. Aurora Theatre, 128 E. Pike St., Lawrenceville. 678-226-6222. auroratheatre.com
Bottom line: A bit of a bore
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