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A SAMUEL FRENCH, LTD. TITLE
Full-Length Play, Drama / 1w, 2m
Harold Pinter
The end is just the beginning. Presented in reverse chronological order, Harold Pinter’s magnetic masterpiece focuses on the affair between Emma (who is married to Robert) and Jerry (who is best friends with Robert).
Winner! 1979 Olivier Award for Play of the YearWinner! 1980 Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Foreign PlayNominee: Two 2001 Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a PlayNominee: Four 2020 Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Play
Jerry is a literary agent; Emma runs an art gallery; Robert is a publisher. Emma and Robert are married and Jerry is Robert’s best friend, but Emma and Jerry have had a seven-year affair. The play opens with Emma and Jerry meeting for lunch in 1977, two years after the affair has finished and, by a brilliant device, the relationship of the three is traced backwards nine years to the evening when it all began.
Betrayal was first produced by the National Theatre in London on 15 November 1978. Directed by Peter Hall, the original production featured Penelope Wilton, Michael Gambon and Daniel Massey. On 5 January 1980, the play premiered on Broadway at the Trafalgar Theatre. Directed by Hall, the Broadway production starred Raul Julia, Blythe Danner and Roy Scheider. Betrayal has been revived on Broadway several times, most recently in 2019 starring Tom Hiddleston, Charlie Cox and Zawe Ashton.
JERRY – 40, a successful literary agent in 1970s London EMMA – 38, Robert’s wife and Jerry’s loverROBERT – 40, Emma’s husband and Jerry’s oldest friendA WAITER
London and Venice, from 1968 to 1977 (in reverse chronology).
“Marvelous scenes, packed with suppressed tension, torn loyalties and confused, unspoken feelings.” – The New York Times
“Betrayal is an exquisite play, brilliantly simple in form and courageous in its search for a poetry that turns banality into melancholy beauty.” – Newsweek
“A powerful expression of the chasm between recollection and reality, of the gaps between people who need to be intimate with each other.” – Village Voice
“Dealing with the eternal triangle – wife, husband and the wife’s lover – the playwright, with his customary inventiveness and subtlety, brings new insights to this timeless theme.” – The New York Times
Betrayal – 2025 Goodman Theatre Production Trailer
Betrayal – Irish Classical Theatre Trailer
Harold Pinter (1930-2008) was born in London on October 10, 1930. He lived with Antonia Fraser from 1975 until his death on Christmas Eve 2008. (They were married in 1980).
After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and the Central School of Speech and Drama, he worke ...