I adore Pinter
so I didn’t want to miss BRIDGE REP’s inaugural production of THE LOVER.
Pinter’s famous pauses sometimes trip actors up, not to mention the havoc
British accents sometimes wreak – but I’m happy to report that BRIDGE REP gets
it precisely right. What’s more, they perform it without the British accents
and to my surprise, it works…maybe it even intensifies the piece by making it
American.
I’ve seen THE
LOVER many times and it’s never seemed so visceral or so scary. Director Shana
Gozansky slowly amps up the emotions, with superb performances from McCaela
Donovan as the wife, from Joe Short as the husband and a hilarious cameo from
Juan C. Rodriguez, as the milk and egg man.
Pinter sets
clear boundaries in the very first scene, when husband and wife acknowledge
that they each have a lover but that part of their day is compartmentalized,
away and apart from their very civilized, very proper marriage. Things get out
of hand when those boundaries begin to blur and status quo is compromised. The
fear on Donovan’s face is palpable when the rules change and she’s at sea, not
knowing how to react. I don’t want to give away Pinter’s conceit: I’ll only say
that the performances are riveting.
Luke
Sutherland’s sleek, minimalist set, with its sumptuous velvet curtains and
elegant dinnerware, dovetails perfectly with the stylized formality of the
first scene (when husband and wife perform the synchronized ritual of dressing
– and end up wearing almost the same outfit!) Ed Young’s choice of Motown is
delightful and apt…and his eerie, sloshy soundscape nicely ratchets up the
suspense. What a debut! I can’t wait to see what BRIDGE REP tackles next.
