CIVILITY ON THE BRINK OF CHAOS

Jack Heller’s polished production reveals Pinter’s
menace, even if it could use a bit more disorder

First, a joke:

“How many Harold Pinters does it take to change a light bulb?”

Answer:

“Change?”
(pause)
“A light bulb? Into what?
(pause)
“Ah, asparagus.”

In many ways, Harold Pinter (1930–2008) was a literary assault on the Freudian paragons; he battered down the psychological bastions Freud theorized humans constructed to protect their ids, egos, and superegos—those defenses of the psyche—gleefully exposing the terror individuals strive to keep hidden behind their straw houses of prattle, wood houses of ritual, and even stone domiciles of denial.

To Pinter, all sanctuaries are merely mirrors in a funhouse where the images we turn to for comfort are all shattered reflections. The human psyche is a mosaic to Pinter beyond the ability of Freud to catalogue, Sherlock Holmes to deduce, and all the King’s horses and all the King’s men to reassemble. And perhaps that is the way it is meant to be, with our consciousness—like a chameleon’s hide—an ever-shifting prisoner of context.

Sex, Lies and Harold Pinter, a visiting production at the Odyssey Theatre, offers two one-acts that are sure to provide audiences with ample fodder for conversation at any nearby café.

We enter a party in progress. The striking set of impressive wood paneling, lattice windows with curtains flowing gracefully down, elegant furnishings, and a full bar where the guests are liberally partaking. The superlative set spoke to me of Joel Daavid, even before I opened the program to find his name.

Michelle Ghatan, Paul Marius, Larry Eisenberg, Mouchette van Helsdingen

Party Time (1991) is the more political of the pieces, contrasting a lavish party where guests’ speak of the banalities of country clubs and sexual trysts, while outside their walls, the roars of a revolution reverberate. In addition to Daavid’s set, the lighting design of Gavan Wyrick, sound composition of Chris Moscatiello, and the striking fashions of costume designer Shon LeBlanc combine to create a visually striking and cohesively realized design.

At a party thrown by Gavin (Larry Eisenberg) so he might luxuriate in the presence of the right kind of people. One guest is Terry (Paul Marius), pitching to the elite partygoers while occasionally turning on his doe-eyed wife Dusty (Michelle Ghatan) with a subdued menace to silence her concerns over Jimmy, a missing guest. We also have Charlotte (Brenda James) and Liz (Michelle McGregor), who buzz over the sexual possibilities about them, and Liz’s husband Douglas (Christopher Louis Parker), who, along with the obligatory young stud Fred (Isaac W. Jay), weaves along a similar subject for discourse. The focus shifts among the pairings as topics leap from hot towels and blackheads to golf courses and the need for the masses to know their place. There is also the observation of how empty the streets are, as if the “black death” had befallen the citizenry. Punctuating all this civil discourse are periodic bursts of gunfire from somewhere beyond the manor walls, low-flying helicopters speeding overhead, and the recurring question: “Where is Jimmy?”

Brenda James, Michelle McGregor, Christopher Louis Parker, Isaac W. Jay

For Pinter, society’s political tempest is an ever-present reality, one that is only intensified by the efforts of his characters to ignore it. Director Jack Heller does an excellent job of depositing identifiable “Easter eggs” throughout Party Time that harken back to recent history while offering cautions of a contemporary nature.

For example, Parker’s Douglas comes across as a fusion of Nazi leader Ernst Röhm and a Fox News fascist, boasting a lapel pin flag and extended red tie. Meanwhile, Eisenberg’s Gavin uses both hands to lift a glass—which Trump was doing during speeches.

Throughout all this, Melissa (Mouchette van Helsdingen) is the stately Cassandra figure, bemoaning to her fellow partygoers how all those she once partied with are now dead. The theme of the evening is aptly expressed in a single line: “You don’t have to believe anything, just shut up.”

When Jimmy (John Coady) finally breaks into the revelry, he holds—like Poe’s “The Masque of the Red Death”—“illimitable dominion over all.” There is nothing left to be said.

Susan Priver and Ron Bottitta

The second half of the evening is reserved for The Lover (1962), an early work of Pinter’s originally penned for BBC TV. It is a tidy two-hander disguised as a quartet ensemble. Successful businessman Richard (Ron Bottitta) bids his attractive wife, Sarah (Susan Priver), a loving goodbye as he prepares to hurry off to a day of meetings cluttered with commerce.

Then, pausing before departing, he casually inquires of his devoted spouse, “Is your lover coming today?” Then follows the fun, with both Bottitta and Priver diving into the depths of the drama’s devilish delights.

What is undeniable about this pair of short plays is that the evening is long on talent. The ensemble does not suffer from a weak link, and there are performances and performers worth noting. Fresh from Theatre 40’s recent staging of An Inspector Calls are Mr. Jay and Ms. van Helsdingen, who was triumphant in the titular role. Priver is a long-respected presence on the stages of L.A., and those waiting on Ron Bottitta to give a sub-par performance are going to be forced to keep on waiting. Both James and McGregor offer up intriguing and nuanced performances, and Marius, returning to the stage after a long hiatus, earns our hopes that he sticks around.

Ron Bottitta and Susan Priver

All in all, Heller has corralled an appreciable herd of talent and uses it to good effect. One might point to a lack of tension in the first offering and some comic missteps in the second—slights that will almost certainly fix themselves during the show’s six-week run.

What one will find on stage at the Odyssey is a production both professional and pristine, almost to a fault. Heller, in his respect for Pinter, may have forgotten that the playwright needs a tad of unruliness and disarray to truly shine. Pinter took it as his mission to layer a clarity of language over the chaotic madness of existence; whether he meant that language to serve as blinders against the terror or as a bridge to salvation is for audiences to debate.

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photos by Jacques Lorch

Sex, Lies and Harold Pinter
a visiting production at the
Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S Sepulveda Blvd.
Fri and Sat at 8; Sun at 3
ends on April 26, 2026
for tickets ($35), visit Odyssey

for more shows, visit Theatre in LA

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