Betrayal (Premiere: National Theatre) (1978-1979)

Betrayal (1977)

Date from	15 November 1978
Date to	8 September 1979
No of Performances	71 Confidence Level
Premiere	Yes
Language	English

Venues

National Theatre: Lyttelton Theatre

10-Nov-1978 to 08-Sep-1979

Previews: 10, 11 (matinee and evening), 13 and 14/11. Press night: 15/11.

Linked Productions

No linked Production have been added to this production record yet.

Linked People

Peter Hall (1930 - 2017)

Creative | Director

Ric Green

Creative | Sound Designer

Diana Boddington (1921 - 2002)

Technical | Stage Manager

Sue Jenkinson

Creative | Assistant Designer

Douglas Attrill

Technical | Assistant Stage Manager

Catherine Bailey

Technical | Assistant Stage Manager

Angela Fairclough

Technical | Assistant Stage Manager

Karen Stone

Technical | Deputy Stage Manager

John Bury (1925 - 2000)

Creative | Lighting Designer

John Bury (1925 - 2000)

Creative | Costume Designer

Nikolas Simmonds (1949 - 2004)

Technical | Staff Director

N/A Snowdon (1930 - 2017)

Creative | Production Photographer

Listed in programme as 'Snowdon'.

Rodger Hulley

Technical | Company Manager

Listed in programme.as 'Manager'.

John Bury (1925 - 2000)

Creative | Set Designer

Linked Organisations

Royal National Theatre (Producing & Receiving House | Est. 1963)

South Bank, London SE1 9PX, England

Producer.

Characters

Emma (Age: 38, Female)

Married to Daniel Massey at time of production.

Emma 38 at the beginning of the play, and her age changes as the time period moves more or less backward from 1977 to 1968

Performer: Penelope Wilton (1946)

Robert (Betrayal) (Age: Not specified, Male)

Married to Penelope Wilton at time of production.

Performer: Daniel Massey (1933 - 1998)

Waiter (Betrayal) (Age: Not specified, Male)

Waiter implies a man.

Performer: Artro Morris (1926 - 2014)

Barman (Age: Not specified, Male)

Performer: Glenn Williams

Jerry (Age: 40, Male)

Jerry is 40 at the beginning of the play, and his age changes as the time period moves more or less backward from 1977 to 1968.

Performer: Michael Gambon (1940 - 2023)

Linked Awards

The Laurence Olivier Award

1979

Won: Play of the Year.

The Laurence Olivier Award

1979

Nominated for Actor of the Year in a New Play: Michael Gambon.

Resources

Production Programme for Betrayal (Image)

Type: Theatre programme

Programme cover only.

Image of Michael Gambon and Penelope Wilton (Image)

Type: Image

Robert Cushman, ‘Thanks for the memory’, The Observer, 19 November 1978, p. 32 (URL)

Type: Review

External Link: https://www.proquest.com/docview/476457650/fulltextPDF/7C69EA9829CE4F2FPQ/7?accountid=14664

Benedict Nightingale, ‘Have Pinter and Stoppard Turned to Naturalism?’, New York Times, 3 December 1978 (URL)

Type: Review

External Link: https://www.proquest.com/docview/123564793/7C69EA9829CE4F2FPQ/1?accountid=14664

Subscription required

Sources

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_Laurence_Olivier_Awards

URL

Information about awards taken from site's webpage, '1979 Laurence Olivier Awards' [accessed 9 March 2018].

Harold Pinter Appointments Diary, 1978

The British Library Modern Manuscripts, The Harold Pinter Archive, Add MS 88880/12/11, no ff

Library archive

Information about previews and dates of production opening taken from entries for November.

Harold Pinter Appointments Diary, 1979

The British Library Modern Manuscripts, The Harold Pinter Archive, Add MS 88880/12/12, no ff

Library archive

Information about date of final performance taken from entry for September.

Production Programme for Betrayal

The British Library Modern Manuscripts, The Harold Pinter Archive, Add MS 888880/8/14

Library archive

Daniel Rosenthal's The National Theatre Story

Daniel Rosenthal, The National Theatre Story (London: Oberon, 2013)

Academic book

Information about number of performances taken from Rosenthal's unpaginated book, and section for 1978.

National Theatre Archive

http://catalogue.nationaltheatre.org.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Performance&id=406

Theatre archive