Betrayal (play)

Betrayal is a play written by Harold Pinter in 1978. Critically regarded as one of the English playwright's major dramatic works, it features his characteristically economical dialogue, characters' hidden emotions and veiled motivations, and their self-absorbed competitive one-upmanship, face-saving, dishonesty, and (self-) deceptions.
Inspired by Pinter's clandestine extramarital affair with BBC Television presenter Joan Bakewell, which spanned seven years, from 1962 to 1969, the plot of Betrayal integrates different permutations of betrayal relating to a seven-year affair involving a married couple, Emma and Robert, and Robert's "close friend" Jerry, who is also married, to a woman named Judith. For five years, Jerry and Emma carry on their affair without Robert's knowledge, both cuckolding Robert and betraying Judith, until Emma, without telling Jerry she has done so, admits her infidelity to Robert (in effect, betraying Jerry), although she continues their affair. In 1977, four years after exposing the affair (in 1973) and two years after their subsequent break up (in 1975), Emma meets Jerry to tell him that her marriage to Robert is over. She then lies to Jerry in telling him that, "last night", she had to reveal the truth to Robert and that he now knows of the affair. The truth, however, is that Robert has known about the affair for the past four years.
Pinter's particular usage of reverse chronology in structuring the plot is innovative: the first two scenes take place after the affair has ended, in 1977; the final scene ends when the affair begins, in 1968; and, in between 1977 and 1968, scenes in two pivotal years (1977 and 1973) move forward chronologically. As Roger Ebert observes, in his review of the 1983 film, based on Pinter's own screenplay, "The Betrayal structure strips away all artifice. In this view, the play shows, heartlessly, that the very capacity for love itself is sometimes based on betraying not only other loved ones, but even ourselves." Still, drawing on the frequently commented influence of Proust's In Search of Lost Time and Pinter's work on 1977's The Proust Screenplay on Betrayal, more emotionally complex interpretations are possible based on a stress on dual motions, one forward in calendar time toward disillusion and one backward toward the redemptive recovery of time, in each work.
London and Venice, from 1968 to 1977 (in reverse chronology).
The years between 1968 and 1977 occur in reverse order; scenes within years 1977 and 1973 move forward.
In 1977 Emma is 38, and Jerry and Robert are 40. (n. pag. [7]).
Betrayal was first produced by the National Theatre in London on 15 June 1978. The original cast featured Penelope Wilton as Emma, Michael Gambon as Jerry, Daniel Massey as Robert, and Artro Morris as the waiter; Wilton and Massey were married at the time. It was designed by John Bury and directed by Peter Hall.
In 1991, Betrayal ran at the Almeida Theatre directed by David Leveaux with Bill Nighy playing Jerry, Martin Shaw playing Robert and Cheryl Campbell playing Emma.
The play was revived in the Lyttleton at the National Theatre in November 1998, directed by Trevor Nunn and starring Douglas Hodge, Imogen Stubbs, and Anthony Calf.
In 2003, Peter Hall directed a production of Betrayal at the Duchess Theatre starring Janie Dee, Aden Gillett, and Hugo Speer.
In 2007, Roger Michell staged a revival of Betrayal at the Donmar Warehouse theatre starring Toby Stephens as Jerry, Samuel West as Robert, and Dervla Kirwan as Emma. Pinter reportedly lunched with the actors, attended an early "readthrough" and provided some advice, which, according to Stephens, included the instruction to ignore some of Pinter's famous pauses (Lawson).
In 2011, a new West End production was mounted at the Comedy Theatre, directed by Ian Rickson and starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Douglas Henshall, and Ben Miles.
In 2019, Jamie Lloyd directed Tom Hiddleston as Robert, Zawe Ashton as Emma and Charlie Cox as Jerry in a revival of the play at The Harold Pinter Theatre.
Betrayal was revived at The Crucible Theatre, Sheffield – from 17 May 2012 to 9 June 2012 – as the climax of Sheffield Crucible's 40th anniversary season. It starred John Simm as Jerry, Ruth Gemmell as Emma, Colin Tierney as Robert and Thomas Tinker as the waiter. Betrayal was performed at Brighton Fringe in 2019 by Pretty Villain Productions at The Rialto Theatre, receiving a 'Highly Recommended' review and a 5* review.
The American premiere took place on Broadway on 5 January 1980 at the Trafalgar Theatre, and ran for 170 performances until it closed on 31 May 1980. The show was directed by Peter Hall, was designed by John Bury, the production stage manager was Marnel Sumner, the stage manager was Ian Thomson, and press was by Seymour Krawitz and Patricia McLean Krawitz. Raul Julia starred as Jerry, Blythe Danner as Emma, Roy Scheider as Robert, Ian Thomson as the Barman, and Ernesto Gasco as the Waiter.
A 2000 Broadway revival was staged at the American Airlines Theatre with Juliette Binoche, Liev Schreiber, and John Slattery.
A 2013 revival directed by Mike Nichols, starring Daniel Craig as Robert, Rachel Weisz as his wife Emma (they were in fact married to each other), and Rafe Spall as Jerry, ran from October 2013 to January 2014 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, and set the Broadway record for highest weekly gross the week ending 19 December 2013. It was also the last production that Nichols would ever direct.
The 2019 West End production directed by Jamie Lloyd transferred to Broadway, once again starring Tom Hiddleston, Zawe Ashton and Charlie Cox. It ran at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, with previews beginning 14 August 2019, and the official opening on 5 September 2019, closing its limited run on 8 December 2019.
A 2025 revival is being staged at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago from February 8 to March 30, 2025, starring Helen Hunt, Robert Sean Leonard, and Ian Barford.
In 1980, director Bill Alexander mounted the play at the Cameri Theatre, Tel Aviv. Translator: Avraham Oz; with Oded Teomi as Jerry, Gita Munte as Emma, and Ilan Dar as Robert. In 2004, Theatre de R&D staged Betrayal's Cantonese version as the first production of this theatrical group. With the script translated to Chinese by Lucretia Ho, this production was directed by Yankov Wong, starring Lucretie Ho as Emma, Johnny Tan as Jerry, Karl Lee as Robert, and Kenneth Cheung as the Waiter. A reader's theatre format of Betrayal was produced by the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre and directed by Yankov Wong on 6 March 2010. In September 2010, theatrical group We Draman put the show on stage with a translated script by Cancer Chong, featuring renowned stage actress Alice Lau as Emma. Staged in 2007 by the Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (klpac), the play featured Bernice Chauly (Emma), Vernon Adrian Emuang (Robert), and Ari Ratos (Jerry), and was directed by filmmaker James Lee.
In 2009 Italian actor and director Andrea Renzi brought the play to life in Italy. Famed Italian actress Nicoletta Braschi stars as Emma. Tony Laudadio plays the character of Robert. Enrico Ianniello plays the part of Jerry. Nicola Marchi plays the part of a waiter. The play was very successful, and toured in Italy for over two years. It was scheduled to return again in early 2012 with the same cast. In 2013, director Ciro Zorzoli staged the play in Picadero theatre. The characters were played by Paola Krum (Emma), Daniel Hendler (Jerry), Diego Velázquez (Robert) and Gabriel Urbani (Waiter). David Berthold directed a production of Betrayal, designed by Peter England, at the Sydney Theatre Company, from 10 March through 17 April 1999; it starred Paul Goddard, Robert Menzies, and Angie Milliken. In 2015 State Theatre Company of South Australia and Melbourne Theatre Company staged a production of Betrayal directed by Geordie Brookman and starring Alison Bell. Betrayal was staged as EJA Productions' sophomore production in 2015, directed by Alexis Wong, with Amanda Ang as Emma, Dinesh Kumar as Robert, and Cheah UiHua as Jerry.
In 2017, Allnighter Productions produced a self-described "feminist" staging of the play, highlighting the oft-debated question of domestic violence in the marriage between Emma and Robert. The production starred Vinna Law (Emma), Phraveen Arikiah (Robert), and Shawn Loong (Jerry), and was directed by Asyraf Dzahiri. Also in 2017, The Actors Studio Seni Teater Rakyat staged dual-language parallel versions of the play, alternating between English and Bahasa Malaysia for each performance, while maintaining all other aspects of the production. The production(s) starred Stephanie van Driesen as Emma, Omar Ali as Robert, Razif Hashim as Jerry, and was directed by Joe Hasham.
The play was staged in 2011 in Teatro Español, with Alberto San Juan, Cecilia Solaguren and Will Keen. Adapted by Pablo Remón and directed by Israel Elejalde, it was scheduled to be staged in Madrid at the Pavón Teatro Kamikaze from 12 March 2020 to 19 April 2020. Translated by Haluk Bilginer in Turkish and for the first time in Turkey in 1990–1991 season, it was staged at Taksim Theatre [tr] as the production of Theater Studio by Ahmet Levendoğlu. It was staged by Nilüfer Sanat Theater during the 2007–2008 season. In the 2016–2017 season, it was started to be staged by the management of Ahmet Levendoğlu again at IMM City Theaters. The characters were played by Şebnem Köstem (Emma), Gökçer Genç (Jerry), Burak Davutoğlu (Robert) and Direnç Dedeoğlu (Waiter).
Pinter adapted Betrayal as a screenplay for the 1983 film directed by David Jones, starring Jeremy Irons (Jerry), Ben Kingsley (Robert), and Patricia Hodge (Emma).
Betrayal was inspired by Pinter's seven-year affair with television presenter Joan Bakewell, who was married to the producer and director Michael Bakewell, while Pinter was married to actress Vivien Merchant. The affair was known in some circles; when Betrayal premiered in 1978, Lord Longford (father of Antonia Fraser), who was in the audience, commented that Emma appeared to be based on Joan Bakewell; but the affair only became public knowledge after it was confirmed by Pinter in Michael Billington's 1996 authorised biography, and further confirmed in Joan Bakewell's later memoir The Centre of the Bed. Bakewell said that the play was extremely true to life.
Pinter wrote the play while engaged in another long-running affair, this time with Antonia Fraser, which became a marriage in 1980 after he divorced Merchant. However, Pinter explained to Billington that although he wrote the play while "otherwise engaged" with Fraser, the details were based on his relationship with Bakewell.
"The Betrayal" (1997), episode 8 of the 9th (final) season of the NBC television series Seinfeld (Sony Pictures), alludes overtly to Pinter's play and film Betrayal, which appears to have inspired it. Apart from the title, "The Betrayal", and the name of one-off character Pinter Ranawat who appears in the episode, the episode is structured and runs in reverse chronological order and also features love triangles as one of its central themes. According to Kent Yoder, all of these allusions were deliberate.
In 2017 a play first written by Bakewell in 1978 in response to Betrayal, entitled Keeping in Touch, was premiered on BBC Radio 4.