Philip Correia, Kemi-Bo Jacobs, Ben Addis and Matthew Curnier are the cast of Derby Theatre’s big production for spring 2017, Harold Pinter’s Betrayal.
Inspired partly by Pinter's affair with BBC presenter Joan Bakewell, Betrayal won the Laurence Olivier award for best new play in 1978.
It features Emma and Jerry who meet two years after the end of their adulterous affair. Emma betrayed her husband Robert. Jerry betrayed his best friend Robert. But Robert has secrets of his own. As time peels backwards charting a seven-year love affair, a complicated and intricate web of lies and deceit is revealed, making us question who is betraying whom.
Ben Addis plays Robert. He was journalist Robert Fraser in Hattie Naylor’s adaptation of Sarah Waters’ The Night Watch at Manchester Royal Exchange in 2016 and Buckingham in Shakespeare’s Richard III at West Yorkshire Playhouse in 2015.
Kemi-Bo Jacobs is Emma. She played Thea in Brian Friel’s adaptation of Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler at Salisbury Playhouse in 2016, Ann in Arthur Miller’s All My Sons for Talawa Theatre Company on tour in 2015 and Funmi in The Burial by Bola Agbaje at The Albany in 2013.
Philip Correia plays Jerry. He was Rafe Smith in the Rose Theatre Kingston, Northampton Royal and Derngate and English Touring Theatre production of Peter Whelan’s The Herbal Bed in 2016.
Completing the cast in the role of the waiter will be Matthew Curnier. He played Akadiusz in My Brother's Country by Javaad Alipoor at The Lowry, Salford in 2015.
Lekan Lawal, resident assistant director at Derby Theatre as part of the Regional Theatre Young Directors Scheme, directs.
He said, “Pinter's semi-autobiographical play expertly delves into the inherently complex nature of desire and the unforeseen ramifications of deceit.
“His experimentation with non-linear form, by way of reverse chronology to explore memory, is riveting and in many ways feels both cinematic and contemporary, revealing both the causality and emotional cost of prolonged deception on Emma, Jerry and Robert.
“We’ve brought together an incredibly talented cast and creative team and I’m looking forward to sharing this fantastic play with Derby audiences.”
With design by Neil Irish, lighting design by Arnim Friess and sound design by Paul Arditti, Betrayal runs at Derby Theatre from Friday 17 March until Saturday 1 April.