Prepare for a Pinter Play

Affairs of the Heart

Inspired by his own clandestine affair, Betrayal by Pulitzer Prize winning dramatist, Harold Pinter, is a meditation on infidelity, duplicity, and self-deception by three people who are clueless about their lack of a moral compass. It is wickedly funny at times, as well as quite disturbing. In this short 80 minute play, Jerry, Emma, and Robert expose their foibles and their character flaws. Economical dialogue and short scenes keep the audience engaged and attuned to the shifts and changes in the relationships between the characters.

the Game of Love

The play opens two years after the affair between Jerry and Emma has ended. They are having a drink together for the first time since then, and it does not go well. In the eight scenes that follow, we move back in time to the very beginning of the affair at Robert and Emma’s home, Jerry and Robert being best friends since school. As the play unfolds, their various affairs, self-aggrandizing behaviors, and obliviousness to the damage they are causing themselves and each other in pursuit of “love” becomes more and more clear.

All three actors inhabit their difficult characters with great aplomb.

Anthony Alcocer is Jerry, for whom the term “narcissist,” as in “excessive interest or admiration of oneself” is more than fitting. He radiates a kind of charming, sexy self importance that has an angry edge to it that undercuts the persona he is trying to create. He is a man-child, pouting when he tells Emma of having a “bug”, wanting her motherly sympathy. He is very funny in being aghast that Emma told Robert about their affair. “But he’s my best friend”, he laments, as if his own betrayal of Robert were of no consequence. It is self-deception to the core, and Mr. Alcocer nails it.

Aleks Malejs as Emma is a bit harder to define. She is clearly in love with Jerry, and as we learn about Robert’s proclivities, it is understandable she would seek love elsewhere. Apparently, it never occurs to any of these people that divorce is an option. Ms. Malejs is sweet and seductive. She  expresses her fear of her husband in subtle ways, as well as her fear of being alone, and also expresses a disingenuous quality that fools no one. Has she begun another affair with a writer named Casey? While her love for Jerry is palpable, it does not keep her from lying to him when it suits her. 

Steve Copps is excellent as the public school bully boy who never grew up, either. If Jerry is a classic narcissist, Robert is a classic sociopath. Look not for a conscience from this man. His slimy sadism is off-putting, as are his banal conversations that he revels in as if pearls of wisdom were dropping from his mouth onto the peasant masses below. He does a great job with this very unlikeable, bombastic character.

There is a fourth character in this drama in the person of John Profeta as an extremely enthusiastic Italian waiter. He has one scene and is great fun as the happy-go-lucky waiter who is counterpoint to the self-importance of the two men he is serving. He is a hoot and provides great comic relief.

Drama at Its Finest

Greg Natale directed this minimalist production that engages the audience, in part by providing us with the knowledge that the affair has ended before we learn how it began. This reverse chronology was innovative at the time the play was written in 1978. Critic Roger Evert wrote, “The…structure strips away all artifice…the play shows, heartlessly, that the very capacity for love itself is sometimes based on betraying not only other loved ones, but even ourselves.” 

Betrayal is not an easy play to watch, but it has depth and is a fascinating look into the harm done to oneself and others when people cheat and lie, whether out of desperation, vanity, or just because they can.