Lakeside Little Theatre audiences will be thrilled with “Betrayal,” undoubtedly one of English playwright Harold Pinter’s major dramas. Thanks to the creativity and unerring eye for detail of director Neal Checkoway, revolutionary technical innovations have demonstrably enhanced this production.
Privileged to attend a dress rehearsal preview, it is difficult to avoid giving away the plot, with such an interesting storyline as this. Suffice to say that the story revolves around the affair of Jerry (Richard Varney) and Emma (Jacinta Stringer). Emma’s married to Robert (Dave McIntosh) Jerry’s closest friend and Jerry’s married to Judith.
Published in 1978, the play was inspired by Pinter’s decision to expose his extramarital affair with Joan Bakewell, a highly respected BBC television presenter, now a baroness. Both married, their clandestine affair spanned seven years, from 1962 to 1969. Dubbed “The Thinking Man’s Crumpet” by writer Frank Muir, a reference echoed by the media when the news broke, she later briefly acknowledged the affair in her autobiography “The Centre of the Bed.”
In “Betrayal,” Jerry and Emma’s affair runs from 1968 to 1977, but Pinter uses reverse chronology, an effective stratagem for detailing this classic love triangle, via its nine different scenes.
As already reported, the sheer number of complete set changes inspired Checkoway’s decision to utilize a Revolve. (The engineering designs by Dave Hutchinson will be on display on the LLT Terrace throughout the show.) Invisible to the audience, it’s abutted by a raised floor right to the edge of the apron, creating a level stage.
It works exceptionally well and is virtually silently, facilitating the seamless movement of totally different sets, representing various seasons and years, into position as required. Thus the action is effortlessly transported from a café to a house, to a flat and so on. Here too, the means of announcing the year, after a set change, is a neat touch.
Like the playwright, but by pure chance, the actors are all British, which enhances Pinter’s script, that Checkoway says is about “stereotypical Englishness: politeness, repression, small talk and conversational camouflage.”
The show opens to Jerry and Emma meeting again after their affair is over. The icy cool attitudes, with short sentences and carefully considered replies are unequivocally English and Varney and Stringer did them full justice.
Emma is clearly uncomfortable but is there for her own purposes. She has news to report. He, initially oblivious to her agenda, finds the situation equally difficult. The scene is laden with “Pinteresque silences,” as such awkward pauses became known, while they catch up with each other’s news and hers is eventually revealed.
Later Robert drops in on Jerry, his best friend and erstwhile best man. The interaction between the convincingly English-accented McIntosh and Varney is convincingly played throughout; the terse dialogue fraught with unspoken nuances and undercurrents of very different messages belying the words actually spoken. They carry it off with just the right amount of civility and deference, plus the occasional threateningly raised chin or eyebrow to emphasize a point.
Another scene involves the restaurant where Jerry and Robert are dining. Ironically, the Italian Waiter (Geoffrey Long) is another Brit, nevertheless his Italian accent, demeanor and eye-rolling disapproval are spot on. Again, with an eye on the minutiae and yet another LLT first, Checkoway seats extras (Gale Bailey, Chet Beeswanger, Glenda Brecher and Sharon Lowry) at the other tables. This, with the sound of other guests heard in the background and the diners’ reactions later, adds significant realism to the scene.
Despite Pinter’s characteristic economy with words, there are some priceless lines. When Jerry asserts that boy babies cry more as, they’re more anxious, Robert demands, “What the hell have they got to be anxious about, at their age?”
This production unquestionably takes LLT to a whole new level of creativity and technically enhanced performance capability. It is a remarkable achievement on so many levels and definitely one not to be missed.
“Betrayal” opens on Friday, November 7 and runs through Sunday, November 16 at the Lakeside Little Theater (LLT). Tickets are 225 pesos at the LLT box office from 10 a.m. to noon every day, except Sunday, beginning November 5, and one hour before each performance. Reserve tickets by calling the box office at (376) 766-0954, or emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..">.
Producer: Shellie Checkoway. Stage Manager: Margo Eberly. Assistant Stage Manager: Gale Bildfell. Production Design: Neal Checkoway. Set Design: Beth Cathcart, Neal Checkoway. Revolving Stage Design: Dave Hutchinson. Set: Construction - Richard Bansbach, Chet Beeswanger, John Blackmer, Alan Bowers, David Bryen, Neal Checkoway, Jonathan Kollin, Niels Peterson, Terry Soden, Richard Thompson; Painting - Linda Ball, Alan Bowers, Debra Bowers, Beth Cathcart, Dana Douin, Maryanne Gibbard, Roberta Hilleman, Tony Sikes, Karen Street, Terry Trueman; Decoration - Beth Cathcart, Alan Bowers. Backstage Crew: Chet Beeswanger, Russell Mack, Geoffrey Long, David Bryen. Dressers: Glenda Brecher, Gloria Bryen. Props: Lois Atkins, Gale Bailey, Sharon Lowry. Wardrobe & Seamstress: Karin Eichler. Make-up: Helena Feldstein, Maryanne Gibbard, Roberta Hilleman, Maureen Renz, Ernie Wright. Sound & Special Effects: J. E. Jack. Lights: Alan Bowers, Debra Bowers, Shellie Checkoway, Neal Checkoway, Jonathan Kollin.