When intimate relationships go utterly awry
Consent Harold Pinter Theatre ★★★★☆
‘Iraped this woman… no witness, she’s a bit of a drinker, so am I, her word against mine.” Not a confession but a bit of repartee. Barrister Ed is entertaining his barrister mates Jake and Rachel at his and his wife Kitty’s post-natal housewarming, comparing notes on the case he’s working on, and speaking as if in the persona of his client. The wine flows, the baby is passed around, and we’re almost at home with it all, because Ed (Stephen Campbell Moore) is a charmer. We say “yes” to him and his callous banter without meaning to.
Over the course of Nina Raine’s intricately crafted, well-researched Consent, we see the consequences of Ed’s courtroom demolition of the working-class woman who has – beyond almost any shadow of doubt – been raped. But we also see those words come back to haunt him. His cock-of-the-walk complacency is shattered by an affair Kitty (Claudie Blakley) embarks on with the prosecuting barrister (Lee Ingleby) and, amid the hurt and desperation, Ed commits what Kitty claims is an act of marital rape.
With the rise of #Metoo since Consent’s first outing, the piece couldn’t be more timely. Yet what’s impressive is that it faces down hashtag narratives. Is it possible that Kitty weaponises the (unseen) bedroom encounter? Who decides how much personal context should be weighed in the balance?
Raine forensically examines the way the legal profession uses technicalities and rhetorical tricks to arrive at a fixed-seeming summation of the “truth” without justice necessarily being served, or the story fully told.
The evening is slick and entertaining when it needs to be but for every comic touch there’s a telling glance and dark hint of sadness. Are they laughable, even condemnable, these affluent, unfaithful middle-class types? Yes, but they’re finally sympathetic too. Anyone who has experienced an intimate relationship go hideously awry should #Gosee.
Until Aug 11. Tickets: 020 7452 3000 or 0844 871 7622; ticketmaster.com