Tom Hiddleston: 'Being part of Pinter's masterpiece Betrayal was my student dream'

1/11
Robert Dex @RobDexES14 March 2019

Tom Hiddleston admitted it was a drama school dream come true to be in Harold Pinter’s Betrayal.

The actor plays prosperous publisher Robert who discovers his wife is having an affair with his best friend. The 1978 play, directed by Jamie Lloyd, is inspired by Pinter’s own lengthy affair with broadcaster Joan Bakewell. Hiddleston said: “I believe this is one of his masterpieces and I read it when I was a student and I thought ‘one day that will be a real thing to be part of’ and I think Jamie Lloyd has become a primary interpreter of his work, he really understands it.”

He said the stripped back set, with just a couple of chairs, a table and some beer bottles, helped “keep the focus on the words”.

He said: “Pinter’s such a precise writer, it’s often almost like poetry, and he himself was a poet, so there is no hiding from the words and hopefully for the audience no hiding from the intricate subtleties of what we’re doing in our pauses and silences.”

All three main cast members are permanently on stage with each one hovering in the background as the other two meet — an idea Hiddleston credited to Lloyd.

He said: “That’s the idea Jamie Lloyd has had, that this play is about three intimate relationships, a marriage, a romance and a friendship and every couple carry the third in their mind whenever they meet, so the idea is the third person is on stage.”

Tom Hiddleston stars in Betrayal - in pictures

1/18

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in