Review: Spinning set pieces betray otherwise solid production

PHOTOGRAPHER: Joseph Schuyler

Friends Robert (Tim Smallwood), left, and Jerry (Timothy Deenihan meet for lunch. The Waiter is played by Gary Maggio.

Harold Pinter’s provocative play (arguably his best) “Betrayal,” now being presented at Capital Repertory Theatre, boasts skillful writing and proficient acting. Unfortunately, Ken Goldstein’s manic set is the star of the show.

Written with a delicate pen, Pinter’s play explores the many nuances of deepest love and the shadowy aspects of the betrayal of that love. His characters and situations echo the finest traditions of British theater (think Noel Coward’s many incarnations and particularly Simon Gray’s “Otherwise Engaged”). But the robotic set, spinning and lurching with set pieces including beds, chairs and tables, lamps and various bric-a-brac, to say nothing of the overhead video screens of scenic surroundings — bathroom sinks, Venetian canals and balconies — diminishes the sensitivity of Pinter’s purpose.

‘Betrayal’

WHERE: Capital Repertory Theatre, 111 N. Pearl St., Albany

WHEN: Through Feb. 7

HOW MUCH: $44-$27

MORE INFO: 445-7469 or www.capitalrep.org

The 90-minute play is a private memoir intertwining the lives of three friends. True, they spend their time in various locations, but the scene changes could be effected with a few prop pieces and some imaginative placement of stage furniture. Goldstein’s revolving set only reminds one of the feverish activity that must be taking place backstage as Pinter’s intimate story unfolds.

The story begins with the final meeting between two trysting lovers and ends with their first romantic encounter (playwriting at its structural best). In the process, a marriage is destroyed and we learn much of human nature. The dialogue is touching and true and it treats on the most basic human frailties and needs.

Hollis McCarthy plays Emma, the wife of Robert (Tim Smallwood). She is having an affair with Jerry (Timothy Deenihan), Robert’s best friend. McCarthy is at her vulnerable best when the two men (especially Smallwood) discuss the male-driven implications of the game of squash. At that moment, dominated by Pinter’s crushing metaphor, McCarthy sips her drink, watching the two men carefully, assessing her position in their lives.

Deenihan offers a layered performance. He is at once passionate and idealistic, though he never allows his character’s passion or idealism to interfere with the reality of his situation (the fact of his marriage and his children). Smallwood is almost scary in his measured lack of passion (the reason I mention Gray). When Robert’s anger does emerge, Smallwood gives it a chilling intensity.

A fine cameo comes from local actor Gary Maggio as “Waiter.” He proves the old axiom that there are no “small parts” and makes the comedic most of his role.

If director Terence Lamude allows a static and dirge-like start to the play, the actors eventually pick up on the Pinter clip of the dialogue and move the show along nicely, ingraining it with the master playwright’s subtle sense of the humor possible in the darkest of human moments.

Costumes by Liz Covey set the play in no specific time period and that’s a good thing as the play is, in truth, timeless.