Tom Hiddleston Tears Up in the Moody First Look at Broadway's Betrayal
Tom Hiddleston is prepped to make his Broadway debut later this month in the Jamie Lloyd Company acclaimed revival of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal. And judging from the trailer for the play, it’s going to be an emotional ride.
The Avengers star, 38, shared the tearful video clip of his new play on Instagram Friday, captioning it with a link to the play’s official account.
In the Pinter classic, which the late prolific playwright penned in 1978 and debuted on Broadway in 1980, Hiddleston plays Robert — a man whose wife Emma is having an affair with his best friend, Jerry. The play, considered to be Pinter’s masterpiece, follows the extramarital affair in reverse, from its aftermath to its beginnings.
Zawe Ashton (Velvet Buzzsaw) and Charlie Cox (Netflix’s Daredevil) costar as Emma and Jerry, respectively. Both also appear in the trailer.
“There are no hard distinctions between what is real and what is unreal, nor between what is true and what is false,” Hiddleston says in the clip. “Sometimes you feel you have the truth of the moment in your hand and it slips through your fingers. Our beginnings never know our ends.”
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A post shared by Tom Hiddleston (@twhiddleston) on Aug 9, 2019 at 9:25am PDT
Hiddleston is an accomplished stage actor, having studied the classics at the University of Cambridge and acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
Though this is his first time on Broadway, he’s starred in many a play across the pond, including Michael Grandage’s Othello at the Donmar Warehouse in 2008, alongside Chiwetel Ejiofor and Ewan McGregor, and Cheek by Jowl’s touring productions of The Changeling and Cymbeline — the latter of which earned him an Olivier Award (London’s version of the Tony Award) for best newcomer in a play.
A 2008 West End revival of Chekhov’s Ivanov introduced Hiddleston to Kenneth Branagh. The actor and director, 58, would go on to cast Hiddleston as Loki in Thor, kicking off his film career.
Still, despite success on the big screen, Hiddleston often returned to the sage.
He was back at the Donmar Warehouse in 2013, playing the title character in a revival of William Shakespeare’s Coriolanus. He reunited with Branagh too, in a 2017 version of Shakespeare’s Hamlet at RADA’s Jerwood Vanbrugh Theatre in London.
This production of Betrayal, directed by Jamie Lloyd, first premiered in London back in March, earning rave reviews according to local outlets.
It’s being produced on Broadway in accordance with the Ambassador Theatre Group, Benjamin Lowy Productions, Glass Half Full Productions, and Gavin Kalin Productions. Scenic and costume design comes from Soutra Gilmour, lighting design by Jon Clark, and sound design and music by Ben and Max Ringham.
Actor Eddie Arnold also stars in the production. Like Hiddleston, he, Ashton, and Cox are all making their Broadway debuts.
Betrayal begins performances at New York City’s Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on Wednesday, August 14, with an official opening night set for Thursday, Sept. 5.
