Village Players examine unfaithfulness in 'Betrayal'

11/8/2017
BY SUE BRICKEY
BLADE STAFF WRITER
  • FEA-VILLAGE06-7

    John DuVall stars as Jerry and Kate Abu-Absi as Emma in the Village Players' production of 'Betrayal.'

    The Blade/Kurt Steiss
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  • Harold Pinter’s 1978 play Betrayal, opening Friday for six performances at the Village Players Theatretells the story of Robert and his wife, Emma and his friend, Jerry, and unfaithfulness is at its heart.

    Robert and Emma are married, Robert and Jerry have been friends for years, and Emma and Jerry are having a clandestine affair.

    That is a basic description of the storyline of a complicated work by a renowned British playwright. 

    The betrayal involved is not only between husband and wife. Jerry and Robert have known each other for years, before each was married; betrayal starts with the friendship and spreads throughout their lives. “A lot of the pain comes more from that friendship having cracked away because of this. Loyalty and trust have been violated,” director Barbara Barkan said.

    Pinter is not easy on actors. Pinter’s characters are emotionally restrained, so the actors have to go deep, Barkan said. And Betrayal is one of his more challenging plays because it is written in reverse chronology, opening with the end of its characters’ story — Jerry and Emma, whose affair has ended, meet for the first time in two years — and ending with their beginning. 

    The Village Players’ production is presented on a minimalist set with moveable walls, with furniture, doors, rooms, and windows only suggested. It is stark, edgy staging that puts the emphasis on the people rather than where they function in rooms — a pub, a restaurant, a living room, Barkan said, adding that the set becomes part of the play.

    The Village Players cast features Larry Farley as Robert, Kate Abu-Absi as Emma, John DuVall as Jerry, and Scott Dibling playing the part of a waiter in a restaurant Jerry and Robert visit.

    Performances of Betrayal are at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Village Players Theatre, 2740 Upton Ave. Additional performances are at 8 p.m. Nov. 16, 17, and 18. Tickets are $18 general admission, $16 for seniors and students, from thevillageplayers.org, 419-472-6817, and at the door.

    ACT Auditions

    Actors Collaborative Toledo will hold auditions for its next six productions from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday at Trinity Episcopal Church, 316 Adams St.

    Actors will have the opportunity to audition in front of six directors: Barbara Barkan, Carol Ann Erford, Elizabeth Cottle, F. Scott Regan, Nancy Wright, and Jeffrey Albright.  

    Christmas with ACT, a series of readings, is the umbrella title for three works: Unchained, A Child's Christmas in Wales, and The Road to Nineveh, which will be presented  Dec. 9 at Pam's Corner. The Nether and The Realistic Joneses will be presented in February at Trinity Episcopal Church. A Life will be presented in April at the Collingwood Arts Center in a fully staged production.

    The shows and their cast requirements include: Unchained, one man age 60 to 80 and one woman, late 20s to early 40s; A Child’s Christmas in Wales, two men and two women of any age and one boy 8 to 10 years old (requires signed parental consent form); The Road to Nineveh, one man age 30s to 40s, one man age 40s to 50s, and one woman age 30s to 40s.; The Nether, one woman, late 20s to 30s, one man, late teens to early 20s, two men age 40s to 50s, and one girl who must be able to realistically portray a 10-to-12-year-old (requires signed parental consent form). The Realistic Joneses, one man 45 to 55, one man 35 to 45, one woman 45 to 55, and one woman 30 to 40; A Life, one man in his 50s, one man 30s to 40s, one woman age 50s to 60s, and two women of any age.

    Callbacks, if necessary, will be 1 to 4 p.m. Nov. 12 at Trinity Episcopal Church.

    Press materials note that all roles are open for casting, and Actors Collaborative Toledo is committed to equal opportunities for actors, and encourages and promotes a casting policy without regard to race or ethnicity.

    Classics

    Oregon Community Theatre continues its presentation of the musical comedy How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday in Fassett Auditorium, 3025 Starr Ave.

    The musical, which won the Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1962, follows a window-washer, J. Pierrepont Finch, who he rises from the mailroom to chairman of the board the World Wide Wicket Company. Tickets are $17 general admission, $14 for seniors and students, and available from 419-691-1398, oregoncommunitytheatre.org, and at the door.

    The musical Guys and Dolls, which tells of con-man Nathan Detroit’s attempts to find a home for his illegal gambling games, won the 1951 Tony Award for Best Musical. 

    It will be presented by the Repertory Company of the The River Raisin Center for the Arts, 114 S. Monroe St., Monroe, at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 3 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $18 for children, $23 seniors, and $25 general admission, are from riverraisincentre.org and 734-242-7722, and at the door. 

    Contact Sue Brickey at: sbrickey@theblade.com.