The first Harold Pinter play in Lewes in forty years?
A short autobiographical piece in nine reverse-order scenes, requiring seven sets? A three-hander? Lewes Theatre Club is clearly a company that thrives on a challenge. They rose to it superbly.
The three main actors were all very confident, with strong stage presences and superb diction. They had differing styles of acting that complemented each other admirably. Jerry (the Pinter character) played by Chris Parke, was intense and thoughtful, buffeted by the events he had instigated; Robert (Simon Hellyer), by contrast, was quite mannered and utterly relaxed with Pinter’s eloquent silences.
This suited his role as cynical and coolly detached manipulator of the others. Emma (Kate Lewis) was low-key, but so expressive in her glances and silences that you could tell what she was feeling at any moment by her beautifully understated acting.
The potential difficulty with the sets was solved simply and effectively by using a revolve, which allowed swift scene-changing, A tribute must go to the set-changers for their efficient and unobtrusive transformation from scene to scene. The spare but excellently chosen items of furniture were period and established the place and time precisely, including lava lamp and radiogram. The lighting is also complex, requiring light off the water from a canal in Venice to a dim bedroom scene to conclude the play. The atmospheres were well established, though there was some patchy light in the scenes in the flat.
The music, from Elgar’s and Dvorak’s Cello Concertos, suited subject and mood perfectly. The evening was full of delightful directorial touches, from the request, when the house lights dimmed, that we turn off our "anti-social media devices" to Emma’s moment of hesitation when offered the hands of both her men at the curtain call.
This was an assured production and showed the experience of director and cast in its pacing and the happy additions to Pinter’s script.
Martin Heathcote
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