Reviewed by James Karas
Has Harold Pinter gone out of style? It seems that productions of his plays are infrequent and it may just be a cyclical thing that happens to most writers. In any event Soulpepper has produced a fine production of Old Times, his fourth full-length play and we are grateful for it.
The title tells us that this is a play of reminiscences and in a play by Pinter that means a lot. Memory is very tricky. What we remember may have happened but what we retain of events may be different from the actual or we may think we recall but the events may not have happened at all. There are many variations of this.
Old Times has three characters, Deeley (Christopher Morris), his wife Kate (Anita Majumdar) and Anna (Jenny Young). We meet all three in Deely and Kate’s house in the country where Anne is visiting them. She was Kate’s best and only friend twenty years ago and they have not seen each other since then. Anna is living in a posh house at the top of a hill in Sicily, a volcanic island she tells us. Both women are attractive, in their early forties and smartly dressed.
Director Peter Pasyk captures the Pinteresque atmosphere of silences, mysterious looks and the air of the unidentified that pervades the action of the play. We can never tell if the “events” that the characters recall are real or imaginary or perhaps both. Everything that we hear leaves us uncertain as to its veracity or its intended effect on the listeners and for that matter the audience.
Anna, a stunning blonde, shared an apartment with the brunette Kate, and she recalls a carefree life including enjoyment of the cultural life of London. The two spent late nights of friendly intimacy. More than friendly intimacy? Kate told her husband that Anna stole her underwear but the latter tells us that she lent it to her. Deeley recalls that he met Anna in a bar and describes how he looked up her skirt and could see her underwear. He was looking at his future wife’s intimate apparel. The description is sexually charged as are other scenes in the play.
The soft battle lines are drawn up as Deeley and Anna try to top the other about who has known Kate best. Who is entitled to her affection? In the opening scene Kate and Anna looked at each other attentively, perhaps mysteriously, maybe affectionately. Anna describes Kate’s love of long baths and she advises Deeley about how to dry Kate with a towel after her bath. All these seem like attempts to see who can come out on top. Kate does not give anyone the upper hand.
The performances by Majumdar, Morris and Young are impeccable. Morries scores his points but Young, despite what she did in the past, including her presence in a bar where someone stares up her skirt, maintains her composure and her serene appearance. Majumdar maintains her composure and mystery.
The set and costumes by Snazana Pesic are perfect. For the first act living room, we have a couple of sofas, side tables and a comfortable armchair. For the second act we have the same furniture turned around for the bedroom. The dresses for the two women are stylish 1960’s. The play was first produced in 1971.
Carol Reed’s 1947 film Odd Man Out is mentioned several times, especially actor Robert Newton. He plays the small role of an eccentric painter in the film and I am not sure why he is glorified in Old Times. Does the title of the film give us a clue to Deeley’s final position in the play.
Pasyk crafts a marvelous production with meticulous attention to details. The
play has some humour and Pasyk did not bring more than a smidgeon of it. Nonetheless.
I thoroughly enjoyed the production.
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