Harold Pinter’s backwards-moving Betrayal and an abridged Othello told from finish to start add up to An Evening Of Betrayal that proves one of late spring’s most exciting theatrical surprises.

Kaufman and Hart may have attempted reverse chronology first with their 1934 Broadway flop Merrily We Roll Along, but it was Harold Pinter who hit pay dirt in 1978 when he opted to recount a couple’s adulterous affair from post-breakup to the night where it all began.

 Jerry (Adam J. Smith) and Emma (Liza Seneca) may have ended their seven-year fling two years ago, but it’s not until tonight that Emma shocks Jerry with the revelation that her husband—and Jerry’s best friend—Robert (William DeMerritt) knew about their adultery a full two years before it ended.

 Betrayal then takes us back in time to reveal the circumstances leading to romance and deception.

 Had its playwright opted for a more conventional chronology, Betrayal would still have been vintage Pinter with its deeply complex cast of characters and its crisp dialog that leaves as much unsaid as said.

 Reverse order not only underlines the poignancy of Jerry and Emma’s initial joy and optimism by backing it with an understanding of how sadly it all turned out, it forces audiences to imagine past events from clues sprinkled about here or there.

 Now, four decades after Betrayal’s West End premiere, The 6th Act co-artistic director Seneca’s abridged Othello does the same with Shakespeare, starting out with three tragically entwined corpses, then flashing back to the double-murder-suicide that left them dead in bed, and only then unraveling the chain of events that led one man to seek revenge.

Abridged to a running time similar to Betrayal’s seventy minutes, Seneca’s backwards-moving Othello proves every bit as fascinating, intellectually stimulating, and rewarding as its 20th-century companion piece.

 What is the significance of a handkerchief mentioned early on and what role has it played in fueling one man’s jealousy? How did Othello (DeMerritt) come to believe that Desdemona (Seneca) was betraying him with Cassio (Luke McClure)? What prompted Iago (Smith) to seek revenge against “the Moor” in the first place?

 Seneca’s abridgment, trimmed to a mere six characters (McClure doubles as Iago’s wife Emilia as does Seneca, briefly, as courtesan Bianca), keeps you waiting for the answers to at least one of these questions until its final moments while honing in on the nitty-gritty of one of Shakespeare’s most compelling, enduring works.

 Pinter-Shakespeare expert Elizabeth Swain directs An Evening Of Betrayal with precise attention to nuance and detail, allowing her all-around splendid cast to create two sets of richly-layered characters in two very different styles and eras.

DeMeritt, Seneca, and Smith give Masterpiece Theatre Brits a run for their pounds sterling as Betrayal’s sophisticated cheaters, with McClure providing delizioso comic relief as an Italian waiter.

Then, minus English accents, the four master Shakespeareans dig deep into characters heroic, villainous, or victimized while speaking speeches so trippingly on the tongue that even those who might is less capable hands find the Bard’s iambic pentameter no more comprehensible than Greek will be riveted.

 (Special snaps to McClure for giving audiences a taste of how Globe Theatre audiences might have felt seeing male actors disappear into female roles.)

Gary Lee Reed’s simple but effective scenic design transports us from Betrayal’s London flats and Italian locales to Othello’s Venice with Nick Neidorf’s nifty sound design providing background ambiance and drama-enhancing musical underscoring. Chu-hsuan Chang’s striking lighting design and Lena Sands’ eclectic mix of costumes work equally well on the Theatre 68 stage.

 An Evening Of Betrayal is produced by The 6th Act co-artistic director Matthew Leavitt. Josie Austin is stage manager. Cam Deaver is assistant director and Megan Donahue is production assistant.

A concept as inspired as its execution is accomplished, An Evening Of Betrayal does Pinter proud while making Shakespeare as innovatively cutting-edge as any contemporary playwright could hope for. An Evening Of Betrayal is An Evening Of Theater not to be missed.

Theatre 68, 5112 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood.
www.the6thact.com

–Steven Stanley
June 8, 2018
Photos: Karianne Flaathen

Tags: Harold Pinter, Los Angeles Theater Review, The 6th Act, Theatre 68, William Shakespeare