Old Times

Unifaun Theatre Productions bring this masterpiece about memories by Nobel Prize winner Harold Pinter. 

How well do you know your partner?

You wake up next to each other every morning. You share thoughts, emotions, the shopping. You finish each others' sentences and may or may not have similar tastes, but still, you know what those are. And yet... How well do you really know your partner? What about their past? What about your past? Are you still the same person. Is your partner the same person you met all those years ago? Are you curious to find out? Should you?

On this premise British dramatist and Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter wrote one of his most intriguing and elusive plays.

If for Shakespeare death is the undiscovered country; as far as Pinter is concerned, the past is an equally unknown quantity, and not necessarily one which it is wise to uncover.

Whilst many talk of ‘the good ol’ days’, in Pinter’s ‘Old Times’ things are hardly that good.

On the surface the storyline seems simple enough: Anna, a friend of Kate, ( Kate is now married to Deeley), comes to visit the couple in their country house not far from from the sea. Deeley, a film director, is constantly travelling. His wife Kate is a more reclusive stay-at-home type, the exact opposite of Anna. It seems that Kate has not been in touch with Anna, her one and only friend, for twenty years. Deeley, ever the curious one, is keen on the two reacquainting themselves. The question is why?

A strange, elusive ménage a trois ensues, a dark comedy in which the three characters circle each other, trying to gain dominance over the others. Questions abound. Who was in a relationship with whom? Was there a murder? If so, who was the victim and who the murderer?

Pinter racks up the tension in this sardonic drama in which all three characters realise that although you may hide your past it is never very far away from you.

Old Times is one of Harold Pinter’s most elusive plays. And yet for many it is also one of his most intriguing. Witty, sharp and brimming with Pinteresque tensions, the play was chosen as the first production to be put up when the rechristened Harold Pinter Theatre opened in London. And with good reason. The play offers three tour-de-force performances for the actors, and a short but intriguing night out for theatre-lovers.

But be warned. One does not go to see Old Times to find answers. One goes to Old Times to find questions, and not necessarily about the play.

“The past is what you remember, imagine you remember, convince yourself you remember, or pretend you remember.”

Directed by Chris Gatt, cast features Mikhail Basmadjian, Laura Best and Pia Zammit.