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Performance Preview: Scratch the surface of the mundane domain for a world of pain
Virginia Pedani
January 29th, 2019
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The nylon’s going to catch fire (photo: huset-kbh.dk)
A clever twist applied by acclaimed US director Jeremy Thomas-Poulsen to Harold Pinter’s 1962 classic play ‘The Lover’ ensures it still feels relevant today.
The original, about a husband and wife’s (Tom Hale and Jana Pulkrabek) cat and mouse games of sexual provocation, is a masterclass in suspense,
But by flipping the genders, Thomas-Poulsen is able to incorporate additional 21st century themes relating to the recent #MeToo and #TimesUp movements into this Down the Rabbit Hole and Manusarts co-production.
Master of irony and menace
The play is set in the home of a seemingly ordinary couple – the only two actors in the play. Everything seems to be perfectly mundane, until the question “Is your lover coming today?” echoes around the domain as one of them leaves for work.
“The Lover exemplifies Pinter’s mastery of irony in this vignette of couple’s suburban mundanity spiced up by infidelity,” acclaims the Guardian – and for five days starting from this Wednesday, Copenhagen audiences can look forward to a battle of the sexes guaranteed to heat up the theatre.
It’s been nearly eleven years since the Nobel Prize-winning British playwright passed on, but thanks to the likes of Thomas-Poulsen his ‘comedy of menace’ will continue to break boundaries for years to come.
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