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Betrayal

Full-Length Play, Drama  /  1w, 2m

Harold Pinter

First presented at the National Theatre in 1978, Harold Pinter’s acclaimed play centers on an affair and its revelation, portrayed in reverse chronological order.

Betrayal

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    1w, 2m
  • Duration
    Duration
    90 minutes
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult
Accolades
Accolades

  • Winner! 1979 Olivier Award for Play of the Year
    Winner! 1980 Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Foreign Play
    Nominee: Two 2001 Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Play
    Nominee: Four 2020 Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Play

Details

Summary

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.

History

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.

Keywords
Performing Groups
JERRY – 40, a successful literary agent in 1970s London
EMMA – 38, Robert’s wife and Jerry’s lover
ROBERT – 40, Emma’s husband and Jerry’s oldest friend
A WAITER
  • Time Period 1970s
  • Setting

    London and Venice, from 1968 to 1977 (in reverse chronology).

  • Features Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes, Period Costumes
  • Additional Features No Intermission
  • Duration 90 minutes
  • Cautions
    • Alcohol
    • Mild Adult Themes

Media

“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

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: £70 per performance plus VAT when applicable.
    Performance rights for this title are currently withdrawn in the UK and Ireland. To be informed as soon as it becomes available in the future, please submit a license application.

Scripts

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Authors

Harold Pinter

Harold Pinter

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 ...

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