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Mike Ryan and Cristina Anselmo in 'The Lover.'

Mike Ryan and Cristina Anselmo in 'The Lover.'

The deceptively mundane setting of a domestic living room is a springboard into a search for individual and marital identity in The Lover, one of two Harold Pinter plays produced jointly by Jewel Theatre Company and Shakespeare Santa Cruz, and running through May 19 at the Center Stage in Santa Cruz.

In Pinter’s play, a husband and wife’s candid disclosure of their extramarital love affairs cuts through their banal and polite small talk, leading the audience to assume their infidelities have been mutually devised in order to help preserve their marriage. However, the subsequents inquiries and accusations about each other’s partners reveal that the system may be cracking.

As the wife’s increasingly feverish and frequent encounters with her lover take a turn, she and her husband are forced to confront their struggle in an attempt to save their marriage.

Shakespeare Santa Cruz veteran Mike Ryan is dynamic and charming in his role as conflicted husband of his introverted and distracted wife, played by Cristina Anselmo. Playful, sexy, funny and raw, The Lover is a fascinating study of sexual desire, and one couple’s struggle to keep their sexual appetites for each other without retreating into fantasy.

The other Pinter play in the production, One for the Road, is a chilling political statement about the dangers of a totalitarian government.

Former SSC Artistic Director Paul Whitworth is magnificent as a terrifying interrogator, controlling the other characters with unctuous insanity. His powerful monologues dominate his adult captives, played brilliantly by Paul Ryan and Julie James, as they radiate fear and hopelessness through their painful silence and attempt to maintain their dignity.

In classic Pinter fashion, questions of which nation this is, how much time has passed and the nature of the captives’ crimes are left unanswered, a perfect example of the playwright’s ability to strip away all unnecessary details and leave only the characters and their circumstance.

The plays are well-matched—although superficially quite different, they both address the theme of power. In the first, the balance shifts subtlety between the main characters, and in the second, the crushing inequality between the characters leaves the viewer reeling.

The Lover is directed by Jewel Theatre Founder and Artistic Director Julie James, while Shakespeare Santa Cruz artistic director Marco Barricelli helms One for the Road, both with compelling results.  Hopefully, this inaugural collaboration is the beginning of a long professional partnership.

The Lover/One For the Road plays through May 19 at Center Stage in Santa Cruz.