A Memory a Trois

LET'S FACE IT: Pinter is hard to pull off. Not only do Pinter plays often seem ambiguous to even the most erudite audience, but his plays pose an even bigger challenge for the director and cast. Pinter's "Old Times" utilizes his notion of people's memory of the past, a hazy past to which we may make scattered visits, returning with fragments of truth and fantasy which both enlighten and obscure our perception. It takes talent to overcome Pinter's irresolute narrative. This "Old Times" production avoids the temptation to didactically force feed its "message" to the audience, but instead uses a straightforward presentation that ultimately captures the power in Pinter and challenges us at the same time.

Director Nela Wagman '84, in her first stint as director, does a superb job. Wagman's challenge is to let three characters in one room be neither distracting nor dull. Even at their best, the actors seemingly move spontaneously under her subtle direction.

The seating on cushions in the Adams House JCR can become uncomfortable at times but works well in throwing the audience deeper into the dramatic center. Wagman keeps the set sparse and unobtrusive, utilizing the faded sofa pillows from the JCR and adding only two chairs. The standard minimalist setting is supplemented only by a coffee tray and liquor stand. Wagman has just the right amount of cigarette lighting, coffee pouring and brandy sipping, to parallel the growing tension in the room.

NO MATTER HOW adept the director, however, it is the actors themselves who must carry "Old Times". The play involves the relationships between a married couple, Deeley and Kate, who are visited by Kate's old friend Anna, Kate's roomate from her single years in London.

Peter Howard is fantastic as Deeley. His greatest challenge is in the rendition of Deeley's more lengthy narratives, marked by the usual Painteresque ambiguity, of relating his past. Howard, through his angry, sarcastic harangues, conveys his humiliation and frustration.

Anna played by Linda Sugin, is the symbolic presence that inspires the trio's journey backwards. Sugin is good as the pretentious, provocative pal but in her performance is inconsistent. Anna is both an eerie intangible presence and also a real woman who comes to visit her old friend and witnesses the rather pathetic relationship between her friend and her husband. Sugin handles the former deftly. But as the middle aged sophisticated visitor, Sugin suddenly seems affected, with a manner more conducive for a Broadway musical than serious drama.

Miriam Schmir is at times captivating during her almost silent performance as the withdrawn, passive Kate. Her childlike voice and preoccupied aura are unsettling as both her husband and friend fight to possess her.

Although Wagman is a bit heavy handed with the possible lesbian relationship between Anna and Kate, she clearly avoids over interpreting Pinter's terse dialogue. The talent and experience of the three actors allows them to deliver convincingly Pinter's idea that the past is only the way we remember it and we respond accordingly. As Anna says during the play, "There are things that I remember which may never have happened but as I recall them so they take place."

"Old Times" is certainly worth your time.