For most seniors, writing a paper to graduate with distinction is burdensome enough. Three theater students, however, decided a paper was not their style and decided to do a performance.
These three seniors-Ross Buckley, Davis Hasty and Madeleine Lambert-are performing Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter's Betrayal under the direction of theater studies professor Jody McAuliffe.
Having collaborated on past productions and developed relationships, the decision for the three seniors to work together was an easy one. Their past experiences with McAuliffe also made her the easy choice for the director position.
What was more difficult was the decision to work with Betrayal. After reading through several playwrights and styles, the three chose to work with Pinter because of the challenges presented in his work.
"Pinter's probably one of the most challenging playwrights for actors. because of his use of pauses and silences, specifically what is unexpressed and left unsaid," Lambert said.
Written in 1978, Betrayal comes in the middle of Pinter's career. McAuliffe described the drama's characters as more "upscale," which is different from the less affluent people in Pinter's earlier works, but he added this distinction was an important one in the context of Pinter's development as a playwright.
The play focuses on old college friends Jerry (Hasty) and Robert (Buckley), and Robert's wife Emma (Lambert). Told in reverse, the play tells the story of Jerry and Emma's affair. With each scene, viewers gain a piece of how the relationship came to be, and the last scene packs a surprise punch. McAuliffe said the "wicked humor and sense of menace" that pervade Betrayal is one of the play's best features.
With just nine scenes and no intermission, Pinter condenses a lot of material into Betrayal.
"I think it's about a lot of things," Lambert said. "It's a play about nostalgia. about longing for the past, coupled with the idea of living in the present, the present being your existence. It's really about what we share and what we leave unexpressed."
The unexpressed element of the play has been one of the most challenging aspects for the cast. Just a few nights before the play's opening, Lambert reworked a scene which she had previously felt comfortable with and now sees the scene in a whole new light. Figuring out the motivations of every character has been a major challenge for each actor.
"It's definitely been the most challenging piece I've ever worked on," Lambert said.
The undertones of the play's language have been such an important focus for the actors that they drift in and out of their adopted British accents and even incorporate lines from Betrayal in their everyday patois.
"The writing itself is so organic," Buckley said. "The language has an obvious flow to it. Pinter is so exacting in his choice of words, his diction. You have to honor it."
After spending more than three months reading the play and rehearsing it, the actors will continue working with Pinter, performing scenes and writing about him, but this experience will stand out as a major moment in their Duke acting careers.
"This experience has been one of the most helpful in terms of future acting," Hasty said. "Pinter's on the extreme of what's going on underneath the text.... I will carry that with all the plays I act in."
Betrayal is playing in the Brody Theater on East Campus from Nov. 15-17 at 8 p.m., with a special matinee on Nov. 18 at 2 p.m. Admission is free.
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