Clive Owen, Kelly Reilly, Eve Best (Photo: Joan Marcus)
There is plenty of mystery, and it isn't just the plot, surrounding this revival of Harold Pinter's Old Times. Most mysterious is the need for the kind of pretentious, if also a bit distracting, production enhancements that envelope its second revival at the Roundabout.
The 1984 revival starred Marsha Mason, Anthony Hopkins and Jane Alexander. This one heralds the Broadway debuts of film and stage actor Clive Owen and of Kelly Reilly and also boasts the return of Tony-nominated Eve Best. All appear to have their work cut out competing with this production's overwhelming aural and visual effects.
Once the audience gets used to the pre-curtain bombardment of eerie, pulsating sound/music contributions of Clive Goodwin and Thom Yorke, the curtain rises on a set that is as surreal as it is suspiciously in an abstracted location Amid the flashing of blinding strobe lights, a huge backdrop of concentric circles appears that will blink periodically on a loop. Impressive, as far as it goes...and it does go on. Then there is the spacious very open interior part of the setting designed by Christine Jones in which an opaque monolithic figure resembling a large vertical ice cube stands as its center piece— make that a portal —in an otherwise smartly/minimally furnished living room.
It's good to report, however, that all that high-tech framing doesn't reduce the glow from the actors. Neither does it significantly diminish the suspense in a play that has intrigued audiences since it first opened on Broadway in 1971.To read the entire review please go to:
<a href="http://www.curtainup.com/oldtimes.html">curtainup.com
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