Betrayal at Theatre and Company
Jeff Meadows, Ingrid Rae Doucet and Brian Marler on Harold Pinter
The Betrayal Trinity : Three actors discuss this brain twisting lover's triangle by one of England's most controversial dramatists.
Wry British playwright David Hare said this about Harold Pinter – “You never what the hell is coming next.”
This is the first Harold Pinter play experience for this cast. Director Daryl Cloran must be having great fun watching them play with Pinter each night.
In this series of interviews Ingrid Rae Doucet, Brian Marler, and Jeff Meadows, weigh in on the works of Harold Pinter collectively and individually, in addition to what’s next nationally for all three with Nova Scotia’s Ship's Company, J. Karol Korczynski’s Canada Trilogy and the 2008 Shaw Festival season.
Part One - Three into Pinter goes...
Brain Marler who plays Jerry in Betrayal.
“I love his writing as an audience member as a reader. It’s amazing to read, but it’s actually very fast to read because when you are reading it, he says pauses, silences here and he has a bunch of ellipses’in the script.
When you put it on stage and act it out, it elongates and becomes this really vibrant stuff and some of it is brilliantly funny. Pinter is the master of “awkward funny”, and he makes the audience cringe for these poor people that you are watching onstage. Lately, we have Ricky Gervais coming out with The Office and Extras, that kind of stuff – that very dry British humour.
I think Pinter is a precursor to that stuff in way. As an actor it is a joy to do – it‘s really rich rich stuff. As actors, we like to take our moments so Pinter writes down “pause” so you can be counting out time – Daryl Cloran has been wonderful – everything is very tight, very justified. And full. But it’s not a dark show. It has these amazing peaks and valleys and it’s quite a bizarre ride.”
Ingrid Rae Doucet who plays Emma in Betrayal
“It’s a huge job for an actor to take on this script because so much is unsaid. There is so much work to be done to figure out what is going on under the surface, all the layers and there is a lot of psychological brain twisting involved. It’s been really great to work hard in rehearsal and figure out what‘s going on beneath all of these characters’ minds and lines.
This is my first Pinter, and it’s hard just to know what is going on in those pauses. There is one thing to have a pause but it’s another to have a "filled" pause. It’s hard to be really specific as to what is going on and then there are the silences and the pauses. They are a huge clue in the script, so Thank God they are there for us to know where the moments are and what’s going on in those moments and why there is a pause. It is fascinating to delve into them.”
Jeff Meadows who plays Robert in Betrayal
“I think Harold Pinter is very funny, and I think he’s haunting and I think his depth of human beings and their complexity is very astute. His also has an uncanny ability to turn your way of thinking around. My experience with this play has been like going on a rollercoaster ride of different emotions and thoughts and opinions about certain things that I thought were pretty concrete before.
I love that Pinter challenges you to think "outside of the box" more than anything.
He’s very unconventional, risky, provocative, and he’s witty. It’s an absolute dream for an actor to be in one of his plays. It keeps you on your toes, it keeps you in the moment. That’s what I love about it more than anything. There is no preparation, trying to prepare as you step out onstage. You live in the moment onstage with your scene partner with Pinter more than any other playwright I have experienced before. It’s about the scene partners, the power of language, those pauses, those silences, they are incredibly palpable and you just feel the molecules dancing around. It’s awesome."
Part Two – Ingrid Rae Doucet discusses her character Emma's sub text in Betrayal and chats about her continuing work , with Nova Scotia's Ship’s Company and Toronto's Project Undertow.
Betrayal continues at Kitchener's Theatre and Company to April 13.
