The Lover/The Collection
This is a great chance to see two rarely performed Harold Pinter plays – The Lover and The Collection at The Comedy Theatre, Panton Street, London SW1Y 4DN.
The first play “The Lover” starts Gina McKee (Sarah) and Richard Coyle (Richard) as a husband and wife who decide to spice up their 10 year marriage by acting out the scenario of infidelity.
In the first scene Sarah coolly tells Richard that she is expecting a visit from her lover. As the play evolves we eventually learn that the lover is, in fact, her husband.
We see that Sarah and Richard each perceive the scenario differently. Sarah calls the man she is having her affair with “her lover” whereas Richard refers to her as “his whore”.
As the play develops Richard tries to stop their arrangement expressing concern for her husband and professing to prefer curvy women and telling her she is too boney.
The twists and turns of this performance are hugely entertaining, funny and thought provoking. In the end, the couple seem to loose touch with the truly real elements of their relationship and what facets of each other’s personality they want and need. There is the realisation that they have set themselves a trap from which there is no escape.
The second play, “The Collection”, involves husband and wife Gina McKee and Richard Coyle and father/son Timothy West and Charlie Cox. The first scene shows the father answering the phone to a mystery caller asking to speak to the son but refusing to reveal his name. The caller is the husband (Richard Coyle) who believes that Cox has had an affair with his wife at a conference in Leeds. Eventually Coyle turns up at Cox’s home and tries to get the truth from him.
This play twists and turns throughout with undercurrents of jealously and suspicion as we try to discover the truth. Did they or didn’t they have the affair? It is up to us to decide. Ultimately, we end up asking overselves the question “What is the truth?” It seems that may only be what you want to believe yourself.
These are both great thought provoking and funny plays. If you like suspense, black comedy and something a little ambiguous this may well be for you.