21°C | Saturday May 24, 2025 
9 May 2025
By James Mullan
The Ensemble Theatre has delivered something a little different with its presentation of Harold Pinter’s “The Lover” and “The Dumb Waiter.” This two-part delight, deftly directed by Mark Kilmurry, provides a hilarious and thoughtful night out brought out through sharp performances mixed with the brilliance of Pinter’s writing.
Opening with “The Lover,” audiences are transported to a late 50s/early 60s setting. Reminiscent of the Mad Men era, UK style, the stage is adorned with an eye-catching orange rug, a deep aqua couch and trendy wallpaper with accompanying geometrical art, symbolic of middle class taste in the postwar period. This isn’t mere set dressing; it’s a perfect backdrop for the narrative, mirroring the couple at the play’s core.
With their material needs met, what is this married couple to aim for? Is there more to life that can create excitement beyond work and house keeping?
Nicole Da Silva, familiar to Ensemble goers from “Memory of Water,” portrays Sarah with grace and an intriguing sense of something more unsettled, a spirit wanting to be let free. She is perfectly complemented by co-star Gareth Davies’ Richard, familiar from the ensemble’s “Benefactors, Nearer the Gods.”
Richard and Sarah’s middle-class marriage is failing, leaving them trapped in monotony. They consider whether an affair could revive their relationship. For now that’s all we can tell you with a hilarious yet thoughtful twist.
Da Silva and Davies’ chemistry is palpable, with dialogue so sharp it will cut you, delivered with excellent timing and pacing, making even the most mundane small talk completely captivating.
The production avoids any hint of the cheesiness, instead finding a balance between comedy and undercurrent of depth in the ordinary. The play explores the challenges of maintaining marital spark in a way that leaves the audience laughing and thinking ‘whatever floats your boat’.
Shifting gears, “The Dumb Waiter” plunges the audience into a starkly contrasting world. Set in a grim basement, the play also features Gareth Davies returning as Ben, alongside Anthony Taufa as Gus.
Taufa portrays Gus with a captivating nervous, itchy energy, darting around the stage as unsettled as a criminal awaiting their sentence. Taufa’s almost shortbreathed dialogue delivery and shaky mannerism immediately establish atmosphere.
By contrast Davies’ Ben is calm and quick-witted. Impressively, Davies presents with a perfect English accent that sounds several classes lower than his character in the first play. Be it regional or otherwise, Davies puts on an accent masterclass that sounded more authentic than a UK native.
In their prison-like setting, with grey grimy walls, two unwelcoming beds and a wooden chair, tension rises as the two men await their assignment. Their anticipation is broken by bizarre food orders arriving via the dumb waiter, placed in the centre of the set.
The mounting pressure leads to a questioning of their situation and the strange demands, leaving the audience with a sense of disquieting humor.
The question lingers: what kind of assignment could make Gus and later Ben so nervous? Keep an eye out for Chekov’s gun.
A special mention must be made of dialect coach Linda Nicholls Gidley, whose work on the English accents is nothing short of magnificent. Building on her success with “The Glass Menagerie,” Gidley has once again ensured that the performers deliver nuanced and precise vocal performances.
This Pinter double bill is simply delightful. Both plays, though thematically distinct, are united by their exploration of human anxieties as well as a clinical performance of small talk. Under Kilmurry’s guidance, the cast and crew have created two unforgettable pieces of theatre that are simultaneously engaging, thought-provoking, and well executed.
Picking a favourite between the two was the only difficult part of the night.
The show will run nightly (excluding Monday) until June 7. You really will need to get in fast, because many of the shows are already sold out.