Betrayal
Tickets from $57 Buy Tickets
Cititour.com Review
In his screen adventures as James Bond, Daniel Craig is immeasurably fond of his martinis (shaken, not stirred, of course). But as the cuckolded book publisher Robert in Mike Nichols’ involving revival of Harold Pinter’s 1978 drama “Betrayal,” now at Broadway’s Barrymore Theatre, he turns to cheap white wine to drown his sorrows. And what’s most interesting about that moment, which happens about two thirds into Pinter’s too-often mundane play, is just how strongly we realize how Robert feels more betrayed by his longtime best friend Jerry (Rafe Spall) than by the other party who wronged him – his own wife Emma (Oscar winner Rachel Weisz, who is also the real-life Mrs. Craig).
Told in reverse chronological order – beginning with an awkward reunion between the long-estranged Jerry and Emma in 1977 through the couple’s first passionate encounter in 1968 -- “Betrayal” wants us to feel invested in the rather petty infidelity that occurs among this not particular interesting threesome. One only wishes that Pinter (who based the play loosely on his own extramarital affair) had put a bit more effort into rounding out his characters. Robert is essentially boorish and slightly brutish; Jerry is charming if rather inconsequential; and Emma is little more than a beautiful object.
Luckily, Nichols and his top-notch cast manage to find some of the edge and pathos that were missing in the show’s last Broadway outing in 2000. More importantly, the veteran director wisely finds some laughs in the script that break up what can be an otherwise unspeakably dour play. There’s also the subtlest hint of homoeroticism in the Jerry-Robert dynamic, though it feels far more like a bromance than a thwarted romance.
Weisz, who looks consistently stunning in Ann Roth’s costumes, has a refreshing emotional opacity that allows to share everything Emma is thinking or feeling at any given moment. She also generates suitable erotic chemistry with Spall, who expertly presents Jerry as the slightly carefree (if rather thoughtless) opposite to the pent-up Robert. Conversely, the most intriguing accomplishment of the production is how little heat Craig – once again proving himself as a superb stage actor -- and Weisz seem to generate whenever they’re onstage together. But then again, Pinter never really explains why these two disparate souls got married in the first place. (Had the play delved back another five years or so, it might actually be more effective.)
Whether or not those theatergoers paying upwards of $400 per seat or looking for a peek at Craig’s torso (sorry, not happening) will feel betrayed by this production is hard to tell. But most everyone else will get some level of satisfaction.
[Photo (top) by Brigitte Lacombe]
By Brian Scott Lipton
Visit the Site
http://betrayalbroadway.com
Cast
Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, Rafe Spall
Open/Close Dates
Opening 10/1/2013
Closing 1/5/2014
Box Office
212-239-6200
Theatre Info
Ethel Barrymore Theatre
234 West 47th Street
New York, NY 10036
Map
Comments
Sign up for our newsletter !
