Blue Slipper Presents Pinter’s “Old Times”

Livingston’s Blue Slipper Theatre continues its 2024/2025 MainStage season with Harold Pinter’s brooding classic Old Times, directed by Marc Beaudin and featuring Valerie Kinley as “Kate,” Hugh Kinslow as “Deeley” and Sherry Pikul as “Anna.” Performances run from March 7th through 16th, with Friday and Saturday shows at 8 pm, and Sunday matinees at 3 pm.

First produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company in June 1971, and hitting Broadway later that year, Old Times has continued to enrapture audiences and critics alike. The Independent called it one of Pinter’s “most haunting and unnerving pieces,” and named it as one of the 40 best plays ever written. The Observer described it as, “wonderfully taut, comic and ominous.”

In the 80-minute play (with intermission), Deeley and his wife Kate are visited by Anna, a mysterious friend from Kate’s past. What begins as a trip down memory lane quickly becomes something more, as long-simmering feelings of fear and jealousy begin to fuel the trio’s passions, sparking a seductive battle to define the past and control the present, as well as a contest for Kate's love. Through conversations and reminiscences, their histories and personalities are exposed, but it seems unlikely that everything we hear is accurate, as many of the accounts contradict each other. The question arises about whose memories, if anyone’s, are actually true.

“The first play I ever directed was Pinter’s Betrayal,” notes Beaudin. “And it’s so wonderful to return to this profoundly subtle playwright’s work after nearly a quarter century. Pinter is among the best at pulling the facade from our lives and revealing the truths and falsehoods we work so hard at to keep hidden.”
This production features original music created by Ted Robinson, special lighting effects by Charlie Newsome, costumes by Brynn Nieuwenhuis, and scenic design by Beaudin.

Beaudin explains, “For the look and feel of this show, we’re creating a unified yet boundless entity of sound, light and nebulous physical features that surrounds and responds to the apparent realism of the characters’ world. It’s like real life: mysterious and perhaps a little ominous.”

Tickets are $20 for regular admission or $15 for students and seniors and may be purchased at blueslipper.org. For more information call (406) 222-7720.