Betrayal

“I don't think we don't love each other”

How do I even begin about ‘Betrayal’. Its one hell of a play. True I may have said that a few times. Bu there are few modern plays that is told in reverse order. We begin our olay in the late 70’s and transgressing through time back to the 60’s. It is a play with three players that swims across time and place. We begin with the end of an affair, a love that has run its course. But it is an act of betrayal, three people drawn into the love of one woman, Emma. She is married to Robert, but has been in an affair with Jerry. If you want to understand love in the grand scheme of things, read Betrayal. It’s joyful. Ambiguous. Secret. Longing. Hope. Shock. Wistful. Pain. Good god Harold Pinter?! Who hurt you?

We start at the end, the affair between Jerry and Emma is closed, Emma has discovered that Robert has been having an affair too. If she is shocked, it is hard to say. She would be a hypocrite if she was. The beauty of Pinter is that as we travel through time, we fall in love with the relationship that happens between Emma and jerry, we also lament the trials that Robert must go through. He loves his wife? Who knows? Maybe he does, he stays with her. he even takes her to Venice. But even in one of the most romantic places on earth, Emma only has thoughts of Jerry. I think his pride might be hurt.  It wouldn’t surprise me. It wouldn’t surprise anyone. It’s at this moment in the play that we discover the maddening truth. Robert knows. Well, he’s guessed. He has Emma and Jerry’s letters. Even in Venice they think only of each other and not about the stunning place they are in. Robert is left floating in the slipstreams of a love affair that isn’t his. He can only watch. I do not understand Robert. Maybe it’s a statement of the times that he was married in, but how could you watch the woman you supposedly love, fall in love with someone else?

There are many forms of betrayal, and they happen thus: The betrayal of marriage between Emma and Robert. Emma eventually tells Robert about her affair with Jerry whilst on holiday in Venice, meaning Jerry has no idea that Robert knows. Jerry, who thought Robert was the fool, is the fool himself. Robert has had an affair himself, which we find out at the beginning of the play, after the affair has ended for a while. Then lastly the one true betrayal that we find out at the very end. Robert and Jerry were friends. Well, more like brothers really. They were each other’s best men. But too bad because Jerry loves Emma and Emma spirals down the rabbit hole. You can see why. When someone so ardently declares that they love you, in spite of the brotherhood of man, all bets are off. Harold Pinter, you devilishly clever fellow. Bravo.