Starry, solid ‘Betrayal’: Go for the celebs, stay for one of Chicago’s own

“Betrayal” — 3 stars

Goodman Theatre’s twice-extended “Betrayal” is one hot ticket.

No surprise there considering its cast: Oscar- and Emmy Award-winner Helen Hunt (“As Good As It Gets,” “Mad About You”), Tony Award-winner Robert Sean Leonard (“House,” “Dead Poets Society”), and Chicago’s own Ian Barford, a Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble member and himself a Tony nominee.

There has been no announcement so far, but the combination of a prestigious ensemble with Broadway bona fides and Harold Pinter’s celebrated 1978 play about the demise of a marriage, an affair and a friendship suggests a New York transfer might be in the offing.

Unfolding over a brisk 75 minutes in reverse chronological order and punctuated by Pinter’s weighty silences, “Betrayal” (featuring Nico Grelli in a cameo as a waiter) centers around the infidelities of upper-middle-class Brits. The play begins at the story’s conclusion with former lovers Emma (Hunt) and Jerry (Leonard) meeting for drinks two years after their affair ended. It ends at the party where the affair commenced, with an intoxicated, presumptuous Jerry confessing his passion for Emma, who is married to his best friend Robert, impressive work by Barford, who in 2007 played Jerry opposite Tracy Letts and Amy Morton in Steppenwolf’s “Betrayal” revival.

Artistic director Susan V. Booth’s cool, clinical, solidly acted (at times brilliantly acted) revival unfolds on Neil Patel’s austere set. A visual reflection of Pinter’s spare language, it includes a bed situated upstage as an ever-present reminder of what sparked the play, reportedly inspired by Pinter’s own extramarital affair. Dominating the stage are opaque, sliding scrims that suggest vagueness and serve as screens onto which designer Rasean Davonté Johnson projects grainy, black-and-white home movies of Pinter’s trio and their respective families in happier days. While the clips inject a bitterly sweet note of nostalgia, they distract more than enlighten.

Booth’s decision to cast actors a decade or more older than the characters Pinter describes lends to the tale a poignancy, suggesting this unlikable trio (another Pinter characteristic) may have squandered their last opportunity for intimacy.

None of them seems content. Take Emma, having broken it off with Jerry and with a divorce from Robert pending, who takes up with Casey, a once-promising writer turned bestselling hack discovered by literary agent Jerry and published by Robert. Hunt’s detachment suggests a woman less emotionally invested in the relationship than her partner.

There’s Robert, matter-of-factly dismissing his extramarital affairs, and Jerry, still married to the unseen Judith, who Robert implies may have known about the affair despite Jerry’s insistence to the contrary.

For the most part, Goodman’s production understates the cruelty (both careless and deliberate) that underscores the play. Except for Barford, whose performance has the menacing undertones indicative of the unease that typically animates Pinter’s work.

Barford is terrific, revealing in his considered, complex and dryly comedic performance a man who knows more than he lets on. (Note his pointed observation late in the play about Emma and Jerry’s shared passion for modern prose).

Leonard is also quite good, transforming from restless, uncertain ex-lover in the first scene to a bold, swaggering seducer in the last.

In that initial scene, Leonard’s Jerry comes across as still-smitten, as evidenced by his earnest response to Emma’s query about whether he still thinks about her. His response is the closest “Betrayal” comes to a love confession.

“I don’t need to think of you,” he says, implying she still has a place in his heart.

Which brings us to Hunt, a talented actor playing an underwritten role.

Hunt plays the cool, concise Emma with a resignation that suggests a woman unwilling to be alone and disinclined to pursue dalliances outside her social circle (recall the aforementioned Casey).

Passion doesn’t appear to inspire the inscrutable Emma. With two exceptions, it doesn’t seem to inspire Jerry and Robert either. For a play rooted in emotional and sexual betrayal, it all feels a bit too civilized.

That said, I quite enjoyed Goodman’s revival, which will hopefully reopen in a theater east of Chicago.

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Location: Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago, (312) 443-3800, goodmantheatre.org/betrayal

Showtimes: 2 and 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Saturday and Sunday and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, through March 30. No 7:30 show March 2, 9, 16 or 30

Running time: About 75 minutes, no intermissions

Tickets: $40-$175

Rating: For adults, contains strong language, mature themes