Little does he know that I know that she knows...

First appeared Ipswich Evening Star, October 4, 2005

Betrayal, by Harold Pinter
Colchester Mercury Theatre until October 8

"I'VE always liked Jerry," Robert tells Emma. "Probably better than I like you."

Emma is Robert's wife. She is also, as Robert has just learned, Jerry's lover. Robert and Jerry are best friends. Ouch.

Nobody writes better, more credible or revealing dialogue than Pinter, and in that respect Betrayal is about as good as it gets.

Good dialogue also needs good timing and delivery, and it gets them here.

Mercury stalwarts Ignatius Anthony (Jerry) and Roger Delves-Broughton (Robert) are as enjoyable and reliable as ever. Shuna Snow's subtle, nicely contained portrayal of Emma is the best performance I have seen from her.

All three have to pull off the trick of starting out world-weary and gradually getting fresher, younger and more naïve as the play moves steadily backwards over a nine-year period. All three do it superbly.

This reverse narrative may have seemed awfully smart in 1978, when Pinter wrote it. One looks in vain, though, for any real benefit in the gimmick, apart from some fairly mundane dramatic ironies.

Too much of it is at the level of "little does he know that I know that he knows."

The entertainment never flags, and there are plenty of wry chuckles along the way, but it is hard to get emotionally involved.

Maybe it is part of the point that these people are impossible to like much and that their tale is all rather banal.

There are moments when the play threatens to uncover something momentous - in Jerry's lone trip to Torcello, Emma's pregnancy, or her reported meeting with Jerry's wife - but nothing significant ever emerges.

So who is betraying whom? Or are they all betraying each other - and maybe themselves?

Unfortunately, in the final analysis, the answer is simply: "Who cares?"