ABSTRACT
The pursuit of structural novelty in the modern theatre has, as people have noted throughout, a continuity of its own. This chapter explains the play Pinter Betrayal. For Emma and Jerry, and for the dramatist, novelty must also have its due if there is to be value here. And the major proponent of novelty is Jerry, the husband's best friend and best man, who stresses at the outset of the affair the radical originality of the relationship between himself and Emma. The Jerry/Emma affair is in the chronological past and the two characters are enjoying a brief reunion in a pub in London at noon when the play begins. At the chronological end of the action, Jerry is still concerned about preserving relationships with Charlotte and with his wife Judith on the basis of controlling what they know and thus the acknowledged reality they will live by.
