Harold Pinter’s Betrayal, onstage at Irish Classical Theatre to March 17, is a very civilized and reserved study of marriage, friendship, and the deception that underlies the relationships.

There is a great skill in adroitly deceiving and living with the people you profess to love. Especially when your paramour is part of your family circle.

Yet somehow the trio at the center of Betrayal manages that. For almost eight years. This story begins two years after Jerry (Anthony Alcocer) and Emma (Aleks Malejs) have ended their affair. Both are still married and each have children. This meeting for drinks is awkward and fidgety. Their affair unfolds over eight angry, sad, and mostly joyless scenes. Is this love? Midway through,  husband Robert (Steve Copps) who is also Jerry’s professional colleague swaggers through with news of his own.

This is one of Pinter’s most admired and staged works (last on this stage in the 1996-97 season) with a story that is underwhelmingly powerful. In brief, Copps’ Robert is cold, remote, and subtly violent. Alcocer as Jerry is ambivalent (“I don’t think we don’t love each other”) and articulate. He’s also haunted by a memory he has of the  two families spending time together. Copps as Robert is cold, remote, and admits to sometimes giving his wife a “good bashing.” There’s one moment when he grabs his wife by both arms and Malejs eyes are on fire with fear.  It’s a brief moment but there so much expressed in her eyes and rigid posture. She captures the pain of love that was never there in that one flash of a moment.

Director Greg Natale used the square stage wisely. Once onstage, the actors don’t leave (save for the brief comings and goings as John Profeta as a waiter); they disperse to a dimly lit quadrant to wait their next engagement. In one scene, Emma is lounging on the couch, head propped up by her hand, almost as if she’s watching TV, as her husband and lover chat over drinks. Jayson Clark’s lighting draws your eyes to the scene easily.

It’s a thought provoking 90 minutes of theatre, and while it’s not the show that sends you home with a smile on your face, you’ll feel the pull of love and loyalty against the pain of deceit.

Find details and tickets at http://www.irishclassical.com.