Harold Pinter was a Nobel Prize winner, one of the most influential modern British dramatists. His best-known plays would be The Birthday Party, The Homecoming, and Betrayal. Betrayal is cited for how masterful he portrays hidden emotions, shaded motivations, self-delusion, dishonesty, constant one-upmanship, and stiff competition - all within the context of three characters, a husband and wife, and the husband’s best friend, who’s been having an affair with the wife for years!

Emma and Robert, gallerist and book publisher, are the couple with kids; Jerry, a literary agent, the close friend, himself married with children. The reverse chronology of how the drama unfolds was stirring and unique about the play when it debuted in 1978 — starting when the affair had ended, and moving backward to how it all started, at the end of the play. As such, the irony of betrayal, the cycle of dishonesty, and deception are seen through a unique prism. And it’s worth noting that Pinter’s seven year affair inspired the play with BBC TV presenter, Joan Bakewell.

To open Repertory Philippines' 87th season, and as the first Pinter work to be produced by REP, we have Betrayal staged at the RCBC’s CPR Auditorium until March 17. The Betrayal cast consists of British actors of Filipino heritage, directed by Victor Lirio, who regularly directs in London and New York. James Bradwell plays Robert, Vanessa White takes on Emma, and James Cooney is Jerry. They’re all regulars on the British theater scene, and the two men have also worked on television, while Vanessa had a music career with The Saturdays.

The opening night of Betrayal saw a beautiful set design - the action shifts between Venice and London and an audience ‘hungry’ for straight drama. As we know, Philippine theater is more often defined as musicals; dramas being perceived as losing propositions for the brave producers. Reminded that this is Pinter, known for the ‘Pinter pause’ - that point when the spoken word or dialogue breaks down to reflect what often happens in real life; there was keen anticipation for how our three main protagonists would deliver their lines and bring this ‘comedy of manners’ to life.

I refer to Betrayal as a comedy as I watched stagings of Betryal decades ago, and enjoyed laughing at the rich irony. Modern versions of ‘double entendre,' that abound in the dialogue - I especially love the scene where the two men talk about boy babies being more anxious than girls, and when they make a game of squash become an issue of male ego and one-upmanship. 

So I’m not sure if we’re too awed by the idea of the British being so cool, civilized, and placid, but I missed the jabs and uppercuts of the dialogue. As presented here, there seemed to be too much restraint, so much respect to spacing between the three characters, and I longed for some metaphorical ‘rough and tumble.'

That, for me, is the essence of Pinter: using comedy, menace, and discomfort to strip away the much-admired civility of the British - how everything still has to be prim and proper, even when this best friend has been having an affair with your wife, or when the wife has convinced the lover the husband doesn’t know about them, when in fact, she has ‘betrayed’ him as well. Those situations have to hit home despite the ‘sangfroid’ on display; we have to viscerally feel the simmering resentment, the repressed desire to punch someone in the face.

I’ll applaud Rep for staging a Pinter, but I pray the actors will be looser and more expansive, take more risks, and be fiery as the run continues.