Image taken from creativeloafing.com
This is a play I was introduced to when I was studying Experimentation in 20th Century Theatre at Uni. It is one of Harold Pinter's most famous plays, one that has won a Nobel literature prize.
It is the story about two lovers who meet years after they have broken up, and traces the events of how their affair took place and how they split up. The play does not reveal the events in chronological order; it starts from the "end" when the two lovers meet years later, to the beginning when they first meet each other on the woman's wedding night.
At first, I found this play to be quite boring. It's only when you see it acted out that you see how the text becomes interesting. There are a lot of pauses and repetitive phrases that make the play sound boring on the page. These techniques actually have a more interesting effect when they are performed.
A must-read play for anyone who's interested in 20th Century Theatre
(For Australian readers: Check out the Queensland Theatre Company website to make a booking for when they put on their production of "Betrayal" in October!)
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