Pia Zammit and Laura Best in Old Times. Photo: Christine Muscat Azzopardi

Unifaun Theatre kicked off their 10th anniversary celebrations in typical fashion presenting local audiences with a play that has been called unnerving, elusive, baffling, impenetrable... but what else would you expect from Adrian Buckle?

The courageous producer has been responsible for challenging local audiences’ perception of a night out at the theatre with his daring choice of plays and must be commended for choosing to celebrate the theatre company’s anniversary with the local premiere of Old Times, one of Harold Pinter’s most beguiling works, at St James Cavalier.

It seems almost pointless to even attempt to eke out an interpretation of this dream-like production, as you immediately get a sense that any interpretation would be flawed and inadequate. Throughout the performance one gets the feeling that Pinter is constantly playing games with you.

As soon as he sees that you’re about to reach a conclusion he immediately changes the rules of the game to confound you and force you to look for a different angle to make sense of this stratagem.

The spectator cannot help but try to figure out possible meanings and make sense of the various conflicting memories recalled by the three characters around which the text revolves. Some would find Pinter’s games frustrating, I found it strangely compelling.

I found it strangely compelling

The production had the benefit of three very talented actors, Mikhail Basmadjian playing the film-maker Deeley, Laura Best playing his wife Kate and Pia Zammit playing Kate’s friend Ann, who comes to visit the couple at their farmhouse on the coast.

The text is made up of the trio’s recollection of what happened (or might not have happened) 20 years ago when the three of them lived in London. They are now all in their 40s and their memories live in a realm that is distant both in terms of space and time.

Some interpretations question whether there are in fact three separate, living characters inhabiting the text or whether Ann is simply a figment of the couple’s imagination. Director Chris Gatt does not appear to have a specific bias to one interpretation or another and plays along to Pinter’s games, allowing the audience to make and change their own minds as the evening unfolds.

Much has been written about Pinter’s dramatic use of pauses and there are few scripts where silence is used more effectively as a weapon of control and manipulation than in this play.

The talented cast play the subtle power games that ensue with great skill. Zammit and Basmadjian were both in typical fine form, but I was particularly impressed by Laura Best’s performance on the night I watched the pro-duction. Her control of both voice and movement was impeccable throughout.

Her gaze (a term that features prominently in the script) could tell a thousand tales with an economy of effort that perfectly mirrored the minimalist staging of the production. Her final recollection of the past that closes the play was spoken with a poetic quality that made every word she spoke hang in the air for the audience to savour. Gatt directs the trio with the lightest of touches and yet manages to bring out the essential elements of this fragile text to the surface.

The only element I found lacking was the menacing comedy that lies deep within most of Pinter’s work. Gatt also brilliantly uses deft touches of light and sound to evoke the surreal atmosphere enveloping the action.

This is further enhanced by Romualdo Moretti and Joseph Galea’s excellent set that feels like the setting is in itself a half-remembered figment of the characters’ imagination. Happy anniversary Unifaun, here’s looking forward to the next 10 years.

Old Times runs today and from Thursday to next Sunday at St James Cavalier, Valletta.

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