The aftermath of Harold Pinter’s seven-year love affair with the wife of a close friend serves as point of departure for his 1978 three-hander Betrayal, the fascinating latest from City Garage.

It’s been two years since Jerry (Troy Dunn) and Emma (Angela Beyer) said their final goodbyes when the exes reunite for drinks, a tête-à-tête during which Emma reveals to Jerry her recent confession of their prolonged illicit relationship to her husband (and Jerry’s bff) Robert (David E. Frank).

There’s only one problem with Emma’s revelation, and it’s one Jerry is about to discover when Robert informs him later that same evening that he’s known about the affair for years, news that’s perhaps even more shocking than Emma’s because never once did Jerry sense any change in Robert’s behavior towards him.

What happens in the days following the best friends’ encounter is anyone’s guess because Betrayal immediately flashes back in time, and then back again, and then all the way back to when the whole thing started, a reverse chronology that George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart had tried out less successfully four decades earlier in their 1934 Broadway flop Merrily We Roll Along.

It took Harold Pinter to make the technique work, allowing audiences to discover little by little the circumstances leading up to romance and deception.

Not that the English playwright’s distinctively crisp dialog, words that leave as much unsaid as said, and the trio of deeply complex characters he has created, wouldn’t still be classic Pinter had he opted for a more conventional chronology.

Still, it’s fortuitous for adventurous theatergoers that he decided to go in another direction since reverse order not only underlines the poignancy of Jerry and Emma’s initial joy and optimism by preceding it with a glimpse of how sadly it all turned out, it forces audiences to imagine past events even before we see them take place.

Perhaps not surprisingly, given its setup and delivery, Betrayal packs plenty of dramatic punch, but there are also moments of dry, quintessentially British humor amidst Pinter’s tersely elegant dialog.

Indeed, it is hard to imagine Betrayal transposed into an American milieu given the equanimity with which Robert accepts (or at least seems to accept) his wife’s betrayal, a reaction as refined and restrained as tea with the Dowager Countess of Grantham.

Add to this the famed “Pinter pauses,” moments in which the unspoken speaks volumes, as well as many instances when a character’s words and eyes say two quite different things, and you’ll see why Pinter is a playwright whose writing is best appreciated performed as is being done now on the City Garage stage.

Director Frédérique Michel elicits sharp performances from three longtime company members.

Dunn gives Jerry a Jeremy Irons-like edge and finesse, one that contrasts nicely with Frank’s pony-tailed, considerably more laid-back Robert, and the always captivating Beyer once again proves herself City Garage’s go-to leading lady in a performance that combines British reserve with continental sensuality.

A bit of fine-tuning by a dialect coach might have eliminated the occasionally misspoken word (“knew” and “new” consistently pronounced as “noo” rather than “nyoo,” for instance), but generally speaking the American cast acquit themselves well as posh Londoners.

Gifford Irvine’s cameo as the outside observer who keeps us posted on where we are in the Betrayal timeline is a nifty directorial touch. (Irvine also doubles briefly as Jerry and Emma’s Italian waiter.)

Betrayal looks terrific in the vivid primary colors of Charles A Duncombe’s set and the reds and blacks of Josephine Poinsot’s costumes (Duncombe also serves as lighting designer), and the jazz combo underscoring of Duncombe’s audio design is a mood-setting plus.

Devin Davis Lorton is assistant director.

Arguably the most accessible of Harold Pinter’s many plays, Betrayal is also one of his most intriguing. Reverse chronology has rarely been utilized as effectively as it is here.

City Garage, 2525 Michigan Ave. Building T1, Santa Monica.
www.citygarage.org

–Steven Stanley
February 11, 2024
Photos: Paul Rubenstein

Tags: City Garage, Harold Pinter, Los Angeles Theater Review