Drama Review: Insensitive and In Love

‘Sex, Lies and Harold Pinter,’ Odyssey Theatre, West Los Angeles, Mar. 20 - Apr. 26, 2026

April 3, 2026 | By Bruce R. Feldman

In Brief: The modestly stimulating double-bill now at the Odyssey offers a glimpse into the mind of Harold Pinter through the lens of two of his lesser-known works, one from early in his development, before he had achieved fame and notoriety, and the other written some 30 years later.

Michelle Ghatan, Paul Marius, Larry Eisenberg, Mouchette Van Helsdingen in Party Time (Photo: Jacques Lorch)

The two one acts reflect Pinter’s preoccupation with a self-indulgent aristocracy unconcerned with the social and economic frustrations of the working class and indifferent to conventional morality.

This is particularly evident in Party Time, a series of vignettes at a ritzy cocktail reception. The host, Gavin (a dapper Larry Eisenberg), is more interested in learning about an exclusive new club he wants to join than in the civil unrest stirring in the town.

Several of the guests casually mention the military roadblocks they had to go through to reach the soirée, then quickly turn to small talk. For them check points were an inconvenience rather than a reason to worry.

As the party progresses, we hear offstage at first vague then intensifying sounds of the violence and dissent outside, culminating in the sudden entrance of Jimmy (John Coady) who brings news of the rebellion in the streets.

Jimmy delivers a final monologue harshly condemning the privileged wealthy guests unbothered by either totalitarianism or the misery of others.

Pinter wrote Party Time in 1991. He isn’t beating around the bush here. He’s making his point bluntly, and the piece suffers a bit from his heavy-handed approach.

It also is rendered a little less effective from director Jack Heller’s relaxed pace, which undercuts Pinter’s bitter humor. The cast is professional, but the performances also lack the full menace in Pinter’s text.

Although Party Time isn’t major Pinter, the eight players nonetheless give it a stylish, if not inspired, go.

Susan Priver and Ron Bottitta in The Lover (Photo: Jacques Lorch)

The Lover is the more intriguing piece on the double bill. It, too, has to do with Britain’s privileged class, in this case a couple who appear to be normal but in fact indulge in sexual roleplaying and kinky fantasies.

In the first scene, the husband, Richard (Ron Bottitta), before leaving for work casually asks his wife if her lover is coming over. He is, she replies in a detached, matter of fact way. We soon find out that Sarah (Susan Priver) is aware that Richard visits a cheap prostitute and that she’s fine with that, too.

They’re not your average married couple, or, perhaps, Pinter’s view is that they are. Their fantasy life would not be shocking today, but it likely was provocative when The Lover debuted in 1963.

Ultimately, we learn that Sarah’s lover is in fact Richard and that she has been acting the role of his whore all along. Conflict occurs when Richard tires of the roleplaying and wants to end it.

That they’re unable to stop suggests that Pinter sees no relief for the couple. They are as imprisoned in their bourgeois ways as any conventional couple. It’s a No Exit conundrum, an existential noose that they can’t wiggle out of.

The Lover was written for television and then slightly retooled for the theater.

Priver and Bottitta do an effective job making Pinter’s points and carrying the action forward to its unnerving conclusion, but they are no match for Vivien Merchant and Alan Badel, the original Sarah and Richard.

That 1963 version is still available on YouTube. Both it and the Odyssey’s production of The Lover are worth seeking out.

"Sex Lies and Harold Pinter," Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90025, (310) 477-2055, OdysseyTheatre.com