Word: pinter
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...Times is Pinter at his dramatic best. In this triangular tug-of-war, slow, measured exchanges marked by his famous pauses alternate with exquisitely lyrical monologues. Like the absurdists, Pinter suggests the fluidity of reality by riveting attention on the language that expresses it. His characters wonder at words, make verbal slips and fall silent. Gradually, as the stakes become clearer, the walls of civility they erect crumble; by the end, the ineluctable presence of the past bathes the stage with white light, illumining their loneliness and need...
...Pinter's stage directions advise. In the Loeb Ex's sensitive production, however, the final spotlight rests on Anna. The meaning of the ending thus shifts slightly: Anna's inclusion in the household becomes as important as Kate's victory. Our last glimpse is of the unhappy equilibrium the three combatants have reached...
Director Dan Riviera obviously understands Pinter, and his cast of three conveys that understanding to us. As Deeley, the husband, Kevin Grumbach is sometimes too stylized, his voice overly loud and brassy, his emphases not quite right. His Deeley verges too much on the ridiculous. Still, while clearly outclassed by Anna, he manages to appear pitiable in his defeat...
...Times is unusually important, since so much of the play deals with the spaces between people and attempts to penetrate them. Randy Head's set is perhaps too spacious to evoke the claustrophobia of Pinter's world, but its triangular arrangement neatly defines the nature of the central conflict...
Nostalgia is passionate in this play, but it is also suspect. Memories lie, just as words refuse to convey meaning. In this subtly paced and acted production, however, few of Pinter's own resonances are lost...