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‘He makes it so inconvenient for Jerry.’
Tom Hiddleston on how he uses an overfull glass of wine to manifest Robert’s suppressed anger at the knowledge that his wife and his best friend are having an affair, in Harold Pinter’s Betrayal.
Tom Hiddleston in rehearsal for Betrayal, 2019
Tom Hiddleston in rehearsal for Betrayal, 2019
Is there one past role that comes up for you most, in building this character? That you think back on, like, I’m so glad I played this character.
I suppose one of them - and it’s a sort of technical thing - is about silence. Trying to explore a character’s internal world, without words. Which I think has helped explore these long silences.
Inside Tom’s Brain.
(Probably…)
Tom Hiddleston and Melon: A Saga (Pt.3)
I don’t understand the context of this melon but it must be sacred if it could not be left on the ground.
@lazy-cat-corner during a pivotal scene in the play, Tom's character (Robert) hosts an excruciatingly uncomfortable meal at a restaurant with Charlie Cox's character (Jerry - who is having an affair with Robert's wife). Robert gets more and more passive aggressive and drunk as the meal proceeds, and Tom acted a lot of the scene through very energetic and angry cutting and eating of his starter (melon and prosciutto).
The melon didn't always behave 😂
Tom Hiddleston and Melon: A Saga (Pt.3)
Tom Hiddleston and Melon: A Saga (Pt.2)
Tom Hiddleston and Melon: A Saga (Pt.1)
‘There is a scene in Jamie Lloyd’s production of Harold Pinter’s reverse chronology adultery drama ‘Betrayal’ in which [Tom Hiddleston’s] character, Robert, is told by Zawe Ashton’s character Emma - his wife - that she has been having an affair with his best friend Jerry (Charlie Cox) for years. Posh, self-assured Robert’s language would suggest he is savagely sanguine about this: but Hiddleston’s eyes are heartbreakingly wet. Maybe he’s got some sort of clever trick or whatnot, but it’s a genuinely remarkable piece of acting, and a genuinely remarkable performance.’
Andrzej Lukowski’s 5* review of Betrayal for Time Out London, 13th March 2019
Tom Hiddleston in Betrayal Teaser, 14th November 2018
I think he becomes kind of cynical and shut-down. He seems alright on the surface, but I don’t think he is, ultimately. That’s one of the many betrayals. The betrayal of self. Having to keep a lid on his vulnerability only renders him more alone in the end.
‘There are so many things that have been revealed to me, since we’ve been doing [the play] for such a long time. Robert and Jerry are in the same business, they’re both in publishing… And they have the same clients, the same very, very successful novelists and writers who they represent. Who pay the bills.
So if Robert and Jerry have a huge falling out, then it means a lot for their lives. It means a lot for their homes. It means a lot for their ability to pay for their families. And I think their whole lives are intertwined in a very complex way. And so Robert, not revealing that he knows about the affair, is able to somehow swallow it. I think it’s difficult. But then he knows he can punish Jerry with it later.’
The Betrayal cast celebrate their 200th show!
Tom Hiddleston and Charlie Cox share a celebratory drink after the 200th show of Jamie Lloyd’s revival of Betrayal in New York City, 6th November 2019
Zawe Ashton: ‘There was a squash game.’
Charlie Cox: 'Let’s not talk about that… Look, it’s not about who wins or loses, it’s about who’s fitter. And Tom is fitter than I am.’
Tom Hiddleston: 'It was very instructive, playing squash. Some of those scenes, the competition is in the subtext, the brutality to each other is underneath it while they’re being civil on the surface. After we played squash, those scenes played themselves.’
Charlie Cox: 'I still have a buttock injury from that last game. I was desperately trying to reach a ball because I was so determined to keep up!’
Jerry: ‘But we’ve seen each other… a great deal… over the last four years. We’ve had lunch.’
Robert: ‘Never played squash though.’
