Betrayal - Tom Hiddleston - Harold Pinter Theatre

They should enforce it. The day I went staff didn't do much to stop people from misbehaving.

The problem is that 90% of the audience don't seem to be regular theatregoers -at least that was the case the day I went-, they are Hiddleston's fans who just want to see him live and laugh hysterically at any line he delivers, even if it isn't funny.

Overexcited audiences tend to laugh at anything. It was always thus. I recall complaints that people laughed at David Tennant's Richard II saying 'let us sit upon the ground and tell sad stories of the death of kings'. Wasn't delivered as a funny line when I saw it and I can't imagine Tennant ever intended it to be one.

I didn't think Hiddles delivered the line about hitting his wife as funny, and no-one laughed at it when I saw it. 
But, again, I was with a predominantly older audience who were probably more familiar with Pinter to start with. 

Haven't seen a Pinter before. Found this interesting enough. Glad I saw it, tho wouldn't have gone without the big names.

This was all right. My memory is that the original production was far superior but then my memory may well not be what it onces.

Reasonably well-behaved audience tonight. I am surprised people are surprised at inappropriate laughing in a theatre. Most Ibsen plays feature a barrel of laughs when people are discussing death/divorce/illness/violence etc. But when you look at the subject matter of sitcoms over the past 40 years we do (or used to) laugh at pretty inappropriate things on the basis that they were comedies. I don't think Pinter endorsed domestic violence, or Hiddlestone or his fans, because of that line anymore than I believe Hilary Mantel wanted to kill Thatcher.

That newish Sicilian restaurant opposite the Harold Comedy is pretty good!

I also saw it last night and loved it. No histrionics, no melodrama - just taut, tense and sparse dialogue with a lot to unpack in terms of psychology and subtext. I came away from it quite sad given how it mirrored a few of my friends' lives and relationships. And what with all the silences and tension I thought the audience were surprisingly good given the celeb casting. Sure I had one of those "I get the joke! Hear me laugh!" eejits within my vicinity but he settled down by scene 2. Phones went off a couple of times (where was the turn your phones off announcement?) but not enough to pull me out of the play. I'd actually like to see it with more elaborate staging - the flat in Kilburn, the restaurant, the hotel in Venice etc - but I suppose the minimalism suited it.

I saw this yesterday from the front of the stalls and absolutely loved it.

2 days before the show, the person I had been going with suddenly had to back out and, rather stupidly, I was bemoaning the fact at work when someone announced that she'd come with me as she'd never really been to the theatre, was at a loose end on Saturday and thought she'd give it a go. Oh my giddy aunt! Noooooo! Not only hadn't she heard of Pinter, she'd not even heard of Hiddles, so it was with some trepidation that I trundled off to row B in Panton Street, theatre virgin in tow.

Well, I needn't have worried! She was absolutely blown away, as was I! She did say that for the first 10 minutes she thought the lights on stage were going to bother her - we were looking up as the stage is so high, but after 10 minutes she forgot all about it. ("Lights? What lights?" I replied!) For someone who knows very little about theatre and, more especially, Pinter, to come away loving such a minimalist production has to say a lot about the acting in my opinion. Even I found some of the pauses very long to start with - probably more down to the fact that I was worried about a) my colleague being bored and b) a phone going off - but I soon settled in to it and forgot everything else for 90 minutes.

I saw no evidence of Hiddles' fans whatsoever. No laughing louder than necessary, no gasping, age of the audience the most varied I've seen at any show in ages. His timing was spot-on, hence some laughter, but there was nothing but the best behaved audience you could wish for. (After the show, in the loos, one lady was bemoaning loudly about a couple in front of her snogging throughout and someone else using their phone for most of the duration, but I definitely saw nothing from where I was.)



I thought I wasn't going to like the minimalism - I certainly hated it in The Cane - but it worked well here - and I particularly liked the third person being on stage the whole time. I'm surprised they don't lose concentration, wondering what to cook for dinner or what colour to paint the bathroom or why the material on the bottom of Hiddles' trousers has gone shiny. (And I'm not talking about his turn-ups...🤭🤫)

There was a masterclass from Hiddles on 'back acting.' The scene

Yes, the waiter, Eddie Arnold (he was actually Charlie Cox's understudy, not Tom's) was hilarious and it was a shame the kids didn't get a mention in the programme, even though their casting director did.

Loved it. Absobloominlutely loved it! 

Broke... the toilet?

H- how?

Dare I ask?

Slightly underwhelmed, after the excellent series of one act plays this lacked the complexity, tension and absurdism.

No evidence of bad behaviour or inappropriate laughter.

Awww man, I am so tempted to go and see this. But I‘ve just been to New York four weeks ago. Why the hell are they doing this on such a short notice? I doubt I can go back until November.

It’s awesome that they all get the chance to do it on Broadway. I hope it will be just as successful there. But Broadway is kind of unpredictable... And it will be interesting to see if the Stagedoor will be as mad as it was in London... 😆

There is no set apart from two chairs and a table for a couple of scenes so nothing to obstruct the view. However, if the stage is deep you might miss the person that is not part of the action standing or sitting in the back. I saw it from row B in London and it was fine. And it’s amazing seeing their faces from up close so go for it.

Yes, you want to be close for this one if possible. Not that it doesn’t work from the circle - because it does - but there’s some lovely subtle stuff going on in the performances that you can see up close.