Review by Dimana Markova

The central theme of Harold Pinter’s ‘Betrayal’ is, as the title suggests to some extent, the betrayal in the relationships between a woman, her husband and his best friend.

Beginning from the end of the chronological story, the play starts with the moment when Emma shares that her marriage with Robert is over to Jerry- Roberts best friend and also the man she has had an affair with. Afterwards the scenes move chronologically and present the story line in which Emma has had a relationship with Jerry for seven years, but has told her husband about it two years before it ended. Her husband has betrayed her as well, by having affairs with different women and Jerry is being betrayed by finding out that his best friend has known about the affair for the past four years and never said anything. Jerry is not only the victim, given that he has a wife (who is not shown in the play) that he is betraying. The play ends with the beginning of the chronological story and reveals the moment before the love affair between a married women and her husbandÔÇÖs best man began.

The actors gave an amazing performance and presented three complex and fully developed characters, which had no excuses for their actions, apart from their own desires. Despite the simplistic d├®cor the performance, given in a small and intimate hall, was capturing the pain, the confusion and emotional brutality that accompanies the events. With a small dose of humor and a great deal of raw emotions the actors presented the difficult lives of three people who were all betraying somebody they love.