BWW Reviews: BETRAYAL - A Bewilderment with a Motown Soundtrack

Betrayal/written by Harold Pinter/directed by Aaron Craig/ The NoHo Arts Center/thru May 17, 2015

Harold Pinter's 1978 Betrayal gets an inventive re-mounting by director Aaron Craig as he augments Pinter's dialogues with musical interludes using jazz versions of Motown tunes. Those not aficionados of Pinter might need more blatant, visible hints early on that the play's actions occur in reverse chronological order. Though noted in the program distributed, not everyone reads it before the performance. Period costumes and props not indicative of passage of time (in either directions). A video projection of the actual numerical year on the back walls might help immensely.

Show starts promisingly enough with the strong, lush vocal stylings of Renee Massie, who handles the bulk of the Motown vocals. She's ably backed by Ed Cosico on keyboards, guitar and vocals, with Jordan Craig on stand-up bass. But the moody songs serve only as covering scene changes. Missed opportunities of integrating the live band into the scenes include: having the live musicians playing songs coming out of the radio in the lovers' flat, and especially, having the live trio performing the romantic number to which Robert dances with Emma. Some up-tempo choices might make for a stronger counterpoint to the Pinter script while varying the overall pretty depressing feel of Betrayal.

In the opening scene, set in a restaurant, Emma tells her lover Jerry that she, has just the night before, admitted to her husband Robert of their seven-year affair. Turns out Jerry not only stood as their Best Man but has continued a close friendship with Robert throughout their respective marriages. (Yes, Jerry's married also.)

Greg Crooks' perfectly manic as Jerry, Emma's lover, while Brian Graves effortlessly dominates the stage as Robert, the possibly misogynistic husband of Emma and rivaling, ever competing best friend of Jerry.

Elizabeth Kimball excludes some playfulness as Emma when she's alone with Jerry, but keeps her emotions mostly internalized in her scenes with her husband Robert. Was there ever any love between the two of them?

All the three characters' fairly unsympathetic with all their various inexcusable, despicable characteristics. Kudos to all three for maintaining a consistent British accent throughout.

Second scene in which Jerry and Robert discuss their amount of knowledge of Jerry's affair with Emma really popped with energy, urgency and vitality. Wish more of the other scenes matched that. The later (or chronologically earlier) scene in which Robert gets drunk over lunch with Jerry makes a close exciting runner-up.

Interesting choice not to have any liquids actually imbibed when all the characters seem to need to be drinking all the time. The miming of bottle pouring, wine sipping and the clinking of plastic ice cubes in the empty old-fashion glasses (though executed well) prove a distraction after a time. Also, in an extraneous bit of stage business, Joe Capucini as "Waiter" cleans a stack of glasses in the restaurant's background, then re-cleans them and re-stacks them as the scene has not ended. When Capucini finally has actual lines to speak later in the show (or chronologically earlier), his jovial Waiter with a broad Italian accent seems only to fulfill the purpose of comic relief.

The abrupt ending of the play/beginning of the story jolts unexpectedly. You don't see the final curtain call coming.

Bravo to Craig for attempting to update Pinter with Motown and photo books. Perhaps a video projection of the photos relating to Betrayal shown on the back walls pre-show, during intermission and post-show would better constitute the intended accompanying photo exhibit.

www.betrayalnoho.com/#betrayal

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