Betrayal captures audience

The audience was taken on a journey of the lies and deceit of adultery over the weekend when the Sam Houston State University department of theatre presented “Betrayal” by Harold Pinter in the Performing Arts Center dance theatre.

The story of Emma, played by Kathryn Porterfield, and Jerry’s, played by Zane Thrift, betrayal against her husband and his best friend Robert, played by Garrett Line, was not told in order, allowing for breaks in the serious tone of Robert finding out.

Most of these comedic reliefs were provided by the most dynamic character, Robert. He shocked the audience with his strange reactions to finding out about the affair, and even got drunk enough to almost slip to Jerry that he knew about the affair. The audience was able to laugh about his drunken state.

What made this play different than other SHSU theatrical performances was the unelaborated set. This play along with three others is a part of the Summer Repertory Theatre, summer one, which is a long standing tradition at SHSU according to the program.

The emphasis of the Repertory Theatre is “on the acting and directing with barebones approach to sets, lights, and costumes,” according to the program.

A musical theatre student explained why she liked the simple set.

“They didn’t have much but everything was correct,” Katelyn Johnson, junior, said. “It was simple and the audience could understand it.”

Betrayal had a small set and it gave the audience a chance to focus on the story line and not the elaborate decorations.

One actor explained that acting without an elaborate set was difficult.

“It was definitely a challenge for all of us, but the script was so well written on its own that it’s important the audience not be distracted by too much,” Thrift said. “It was a fun challenge to take on.”

The actors handled this feat very well with only a few slipups on opening night.  
The next play the theatre put on was The Credeaux Canvas on Saturday and Sunday.