Marin Theatre’s 2026/27 season continues with a production of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal. Originally produced in 1978, it’s a memory play that traces a love triangle in reverse chronological order. It starts with the relationships’ ending and works backward to its beginning. The Carey Perloff-directed show runs in Mill Valley through Nov. 15.
Emma (Liz Sklar) is married to Robert (Charlie Semine) but had a long affair with Jerry (Tasso Feldman), who is Robert’s best friend. One day, Emma calls Jerry and tells him that she has told Robert about the affair. Very quickly we discover that the truth is a rare commodity in this story.
Semine is fantastic as Robert. He has charisma to spare, and his sense of pacing handles Pinter’s infamous pauses with ease. Pinter is notoriously difficult to get right when it comes to pacing, but Semine handled the language and subtext with ease, keeping scenes moving and engaging.
Unfortunately, Sklar and Feldman struggled with their pacing. Their overly-thick British dialects stood in the way of a more natural pacing. There was also a noted lack of chemistry between the two. Conversely, there was an abundance of chemistry between Semine and Feldman. Scenes with just the two men sparkled.
The set by Yuki Izumihara is stunning. Heavily inspired by Shiota’s 2009 A Room of Memories, the walls do not exist in this world as anything but transparency. Lighting by Russell Champa was exquisite, playing off the set as though the lights themselves were living characters. Costumes by Jessie Amorso were also great. His costumes were unexpected and yet totally appropriate for each character. Of special note is the striped suit worn by Feldman. That seemingly simple choice sets us up for exactly the sort of man Jerry is.
The staging sadly did not do much to serve the production. Not all the blocking made sense, and blocking and acting choices in the final scene seemed at odds with the rest of the play. There should be menace in that scene, but it should lie in the danger of an affair, not in the seduction itself.
There was also a very odd projection of a child being thrown into the air and caught. It is so oddly rendered that the child’s braid looks like a chain, and the animation is clunky rather than dreamlike.
Marin Theatre’s Betrayal is a well mounted play that could have used less focus on production value and more focus on the characters’ humanity.
‘Betrayal’ runs through Nov. 15 at Marin Theatre, 397 Miller Ave., Mill Valley. Weds–Sat, 7:30pm; Sat & Sun, 2pm. $15-$99. 415.388.5208. marintheatre.org.
