Playwright: Harold Pinter. At: Soul Theatre at A Red Orchid, 1531 N. Wells St. Tickets: www.brownpapertickets.com; $20. Runs through: July 15
As directed by Paul Wagar, this is a respectable and entertaining staging of an early (1963) one-act play by later Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter (1930-2008), but it needs to remember it's a comedy. Indeed, 50 years after it was written, The Lover strikes me as a comedy of manners or a parody of one, which would be interesting if played in the crisp style of Wilde or Coward.
That may seem odd to Pinter aficionados who know his early work is called "comedy of menace" because of the pervasive, often-vague senses of malaise and threat that permeate the plays. But The Lover really is a piece apartthe tale of Sarah and Richard, who spice up their 10-year old marriage with outside erotic interests. The menace comes through the personalities involved in their erotic games and how the games affect their marriage. But the menace doesn't come from unknown or vague outside forces: Richard and Sarah themselves are the instigators. Indeed, The Lover may be Pinter's most accessible, least opaque and funniest play, perhaps because it originally was written for TV, a shallower medium than theater; a bit of good, clean dirty fun.
However, comedy is a funny thing. (Pause for chuckle.) Sometimes the audience needs permission to laugh, a small gift missing in this production. It's far from totally deadpan, just a bit too earnest. Audiences need a cue that, yes, this is meant to be funny or silly and, yes, you can laugh. The cue generally comes through exaggeration of an action or reaction, or through comic delivery of lines. When the play and playwright are as unfamiliar to audiences as The Lover and Pinter still are to most, the cast and physical staging (this is a very physical show) must set the tone for the audience.
Essentially a two-person play, this production has a capable cast in Mick Weber as Richard and Ravi Batista as Sarah, with a red-herring cameo by Carl Lindberg. Weber is right as a trivet in his changeable mix of milquetoast and menace, and Batista is alluring and elastic (she must be a dancer) in her sexy portrayal. Her line readings, however, are a touch monotone. It's difficult to know whether she was directed that way or has limited vocal chops. The production looks good with Grant Sabin's simple, neutral-toned but handsomely furnished contemporary living room set and Skye Geerts' costumesconservative suits to clingy lingeriewhich fit the personalities of Richard, Sarah and their erotic entanglements. Now, if only they get the comedy ball rolling.
NOTE: The second half of each evening offers a post-play discussion or demonstration. "Sex, Yoga and Chocolate" was the offering the night I saw the play.