Betrayal - Tom Hiddleston - Harold Pinter Theatre

Its taken me a few days but I've only just realised the irony that the words quoted between scenes are from depeche mode's enjoy the silence and that probably the thing I disliked most about this production was the very long silences that happened in the first half of the play.

I thought this was ok but I found it a bit dated if I am being truthful. And is it me or is it a bit like watching an old drama on TV...everything moves so much slower years ago and is signalled really clearly....plus one of the characters just reminded me of the annoying guy who worships Kiera Knighlty in Love Actually.....but that’s probably just me! I was glad I had a standing ticket and hadn’t paid too much and thanks for the tip re arrival....got the centre place one that I had bought on line (and wouldn’t have realised they were unallocated spaces unless you said!)
On the plus side I liked the staging and the fact that for so much of the time the person not taking part in the action empathised with us standing punters by having to do the same themselves.
Fan from Australia standing next to me (she had been at a business trip to Reading and had tacked on an extra day at the end so she could see Hiddles) perfectly behaved and wonderfully excited by it all!

The tears when Robert realises his wife has been having an affair, the wine when him and Jerry are having lunch with the Italian version of Manuel serving them (first time I’ve seen Betrayal , maybe they usually just have a cappuccino or a latte but decided to push the boat out because it was a Friday, but good Lord, Hiddles was pouring large glasses last night)

Well. I admit it. I was there in the hope of seeing the Cox out. And I wasn't disappointed. Charlie with his little puppy dog eyes was like a lovely pass-the-parcel. Cute wrapped in delicious wrapped in sexy wrapped in woof-a-rama. No wonder Emma left dull old Robert at home to romp around with Jerry for the best part of a decade. 

The rest was all a bit 'meh' as far as I was concerned but what I do love about Pinter is the way he puts in all of those gaps so that you can do other things like nip to the bar, finish your Ocado order, have a power nap, dash through a chapter of the book you're reading and work out just how much of Hiddles' hair you'd cut off. It's very thoughtful of him.

On the plus side, Zawe Ashton shows us how to style out some denim, there's a revolve WITHIN A REVOLVE to lighten the mood and Charlie Cox takes his jacket off, which really should be enough for anyone. At least it distracts you from the dull play about not particularly nice people. The great unwashed loved it, they were howling at every line Hiddles uttered in a manner that can only be described as Noel Coward-esque. Even the lines that weren't funny, like about assaulting his wife. Yikes.

Oh, and the waiter (whose name shamefully escapes me) stole the entire show. He should have been given an individual bow.

And when Charlie took off the jacket to reveal those lovely arms, I almost fell overboard into the stalls.

The stalls seats were squeaking when I went last week, so I don’t know if that was intended as a deliberate homage to Pinters heyday or it was just ATG have been too mean to pay for a decent upkeep of this theatre.

Saw this tonight...

Not the best Pinter but it has its moments and could have been great with some tidying up.

Loved the minimalist set and it definitely compliments the play.

Was in the balcony and there were a few walk outs and quite a few restless attendees and hushed 'what is happening' and checking of watches.

That's the problem when you cast someone with a cult following and attract patrons who aren't theatre regulars, you risk confusing them sometimes.

As for Hiddlestone... Not a bad actor but far from being great - my first time seeing him tonight - and I suspect if he looked like Iain Dowie you would have a lot less attention thrown at him.

3 1/2 stars for me.

Saw yesterday matinee. Hated it. Would have been my first one star play, but I love the setting of the play a lot so it managed a two. Probably would have left at the interval but it was ninety minutes straight through.

From the first sentence I thought they got this wrong. Became a comedy, never seen the first act, directed in that way. Surely Pinter didn't mean that? Just don't see how they got that from the text. Crowd yesterday matinee laughed when Jerry admitted to beating her, just because he felt like hitting her?? Anyway, lots in this to like. The Ivo Van Hove like stripped back setting, the daughter scene, the third character remaining on stage, the large Hiddleston fan club behaving immaculately enthralled as I was in how good he looked in that suit... but really disliked the direction and acting.

No-one laughed at that line when I saw it. A bit of an in-drawn breath, if anything.

Funny how different audiences react in different ways.

It does, however, throw the chronology up in the air.

Anyway, there is no dialogue and we observe events from outside, though the window. It looks rather as if Richard accuses Emma of inappropriate behavior because she slap him quite hard. He then slaps her back. And that is pretty much that.

Pinter must have felt the addition necessary, though he is careful to not add speech to the original. See the first 4 minutes here:

I think my audience was a little older than perhaps is usual, and less inclined to giggle generally.

I didn’t hear any laughing at that line when I saw it

I remembered how uncomfortable the line had made me the first time I saw this and how at one point it seemed very much that you were going to see him hit her, so I was disposed to find the line funny, people do often seem to laugh at the most odd of things including actual/threats of violence (I mean in plays, I fortunately don't have real life experience).