by Cari Lynn Pace *
Harold Pinter penned 29 plays on his way to becoming a major dramatist of the 20th century and earning the 2005 Nobel Prize in Literature. Marin Theatre has taken on the British playwright’s challenging Betrayal. Carey Perloff directs the production running in Mill Valley through Nov. 15.
Perloff has a personal connection to the late playwright, having worked with him prior to his passing in 2008 and “leaped at the chance to direct this play.”
Written in 1978 and made into a 1983 Oscar-nominated film, the drama is uniquely formatted to tell its tale in reverse chronological order as it traces an illicit affair from end to beginning.
The backwards plot line starts in the corner of a quiet pub, where Liz Sklar as Emma and Tasso Feldman as Jerry have a stilted reunion as lovers. They’ve ended their long affair some time ago. Their forced and slow-moving conversation is dry and vacuous. Pinter’s modern drama leaves many feelings unspoken by the characters.
As the scenes change, the timeline moves back to Emma and Jerry’s livelier past. Details are fleshed out and the characters become buoyant in the love nest they shared. The stiffly reticent Jerry is now softer and Emma is voluble and enthusiastic. The versatile acting chops of these two is a pleasure to watch.
When the scene flashes back yet again, Emma’s husband Robert (Charlie Semine) enters, and the audience reflects who is playing what game with whom. Robert and Jerry have been best buddies for years, but we have glimpsed the future with Emma. The suppressed tension continues to be exquisitely acted by Sklar, Feldman, and Semine.
Worth a shout-out is the stage set, designed by Yuki Izumihara. With translucent screens and a raised bedroom platform, the characters seamlessly move from one time period to the next.
As the play progresses, and the timeline regresses, unspoken secrets are revealed which carve wounds into each characters’ skin. There is no trust among these three, merely an abundance of agonizing memories and deception.
Director Perloff tags Betrayal as “a sexy and surreal play about all the ways we betray each other and ourselves over the course of our lives.” Betrayal’s final scene of unbound passion and joy leaves the audience with mixed emotions, knowing what is to come.
Playing through November 15, 2026 at Marin Theatre, 397 Miller Ave., Mill Valley.
Click HERE for more information and tickets.
Photos by David Allen
Cari Lynn Pace is a long-time Bay Area theatre critic whose reviews were regularly featured in the Marinscope Community Newspapers and a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle and Marquee Theater Journalists Association..
