Pinter's witty, wonderful 'Betrayal' a revealing look at love and friendship

Harold Pinter's plays are deceptively simple. Usually they concern a small group of people, usually Brits, who speak understated, clipped dialogue. But just below the surface of this spare, often witty dialogue boils an ocean of unstated feelings.

Such is the case for his 1978 masterpiece, "Betrayal," now running at the Downers Grove-based New World Repertory. In that play, we meet three middle-aged friends, two men and a woman, who for the previous 10 years have been tangled in a love triangle.

I am not giving anything away here. From the beginning of the play we know that Jerry has been having an affair with his best friend Robert's wife, Emma. In fact, Pinter begins the play at the affair's end, when the betrayal has been revealed, everything is out in the open and the characters are already moving on emotionally (or not). Then - and this is the play's real charm - Pinter runs the story backward, jumping back in time in one- or two-year increments so we can see the evolution of the betrayal in reverse order.

I write betrayal, but really the play is about all kinds of betrayals - betrayals among friends, betrayals at work, betrayals of the romantic and sexual kind.

What makes Pinter brilliant and fascinating is that he leaves it to the audience to tease out the story behind the story. Which is why, although this play is only 90 minutes long, it is famous for sparking long discussions of the characters and their motivations.

For this reason, "Betrayal" is also loved by actors and directors. Actors have told me the play is simply fun to do.

It is certainly fun to watch, especially when the play is done as well it has been at the New World Repertory, directed by John Arthur Lewis. The cast delivers Pinter's lines perfectly, with just the right touch of repressed, unstated feelings. Every few moments a character offers a rich line that just hangs in the air revealing more about the character than he or she realizes.

Mike Speller is wonderful as the jealous husband who believes he must struggle to find a way to deal with his friend's and wife's betrayal without destroying the marriage. Speller's carefully understated delivery makes him riveting to watch.

Likewise, Patricia Hofmann and Errol McLendon play the lovers with a fascinating mixture of passion and British reserve. Sometimes they burn with a white-hot passion. Sometimes they are so cool they seem like the bored married couple. And sometimes you wonder how they ever got together or why they have decided to complicate their lives with this casual affair. These are questions Pinter means us to ask. The play is a rich meditation on marriage, friendship and love. The fine production at New World Repertory makes Pinter's masterpiece all that much richer and fascinating.