20th January 2005

REVIEW - The Lover by Harold Pinter - presented by thinktanktheatre at The Priory Playhouse, Arundel - West Sussex Gazette - 20th January 2005

'Whilst her husband is working in the city - and with his full consent - Sarah entertains lovers at home. And for his part, he is quite open about seeing prostitutes. But Harold Pinter's 1962 play is not a hymn of praise to open marriage because there is a twist: the encounters with lovers and prostitutes are role-play games enacted by the married pair to sublimate the lusts and fears and guilts they experience in imagined infidelities. The play is sometimes tender, sometimes brutal, sometimes downright funny and not infrequently very sad - and the two actors of thinktanktheatre capture this range of moods poignantly. Jane Huxley as Sarah turns in a very finely-tuned performance, sometimes sexy and strong, sometimes desperate, sad and vulnerable. And my goodness does she pay attention to detail: the little adjustment of the hair or dress, the dusting off of specks on the stockinged leg... Saul Ware as the husband Richard (and her lovers) distinguishes the characters very effectively through voices and different physicalities. If I have one reservation about him (the opposite of the usual quibble with actors!) it is that he sometimes over-powers vocally (as the husband) to a point at which the feeling of intimacy wobbles a bit - superbly clear diction but sometimes just a shade too loud. An entertaining and oddly disturbing hour in the theatre, nonetheless.'

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