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TONY AWARD-WINNER ROBERT SEAN LEONARD MAKES HIS GOODMAN THEATRE DEBUT IN BETRAYAL
WITH HELEN HUNT AND IAN BARFORD, DIRECTED BY SUSAN V. BOOTH
***BOOTH’S MAJOR REVIVAL OF HAROLD PINTER’S FAMED MASTERWORK APPEARS FEBRUARY 8 – MARCH 16, 2025; TICKETS GO ON SALE NOVEMBER 22 ***
The “eternal triangle” is complete! Artistic Director Susan V. Booth announces that stage and screen star Robert Sean Leonard joins her upcoming production of Betrayal by Nobel Prize-winner Harold Pinter—slated to appear as Jerry alongside the previously announced cast members Oscar, Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner Helen Hunt (as Emma) and Tony Award nominee and Outer Critics Circle Award winner Ian Barford (as Robert)—for the Goodman’s major revival of Harold Pinter’s classic work this winter. Leonard, a Tony Award winner (for The Invention of Love) whose most recent notable theater credits include At Home at the Zoo (Signature Theatre), Richard II (Old Globe Theatre) and Stephen Sondheim’s acclaimed Broadway revival of Sunday in the Park with George, made his film debut in Dead Poet’s Society at age 19. He earned a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for his portrayal of ‘Dr. James Wilson’ on the iconic Fox medical drama House alongside Hugh Laurie. Susan V. Booth’s revival of Betrayal by Harold Pinter appears February 8 – March 16, 2025 in Goodman Theatre’s 856-seat Albert Theatre. Tickets are now available through Goodman Membership; call 312.443.3800 or visit GoodmanTheatre.org/Connect. Single tickets go on sale November 22. The Goodman is grateful for the support of Northern Trust (Lead Corporate Sponsor).
“Robert Sean Leonard is one of the consummate stage actors of our generation, and the opportunity to complete the Betrayal triangle – populated by Helen and Ian already – with an actor of Robert’s caliber just delights me,” said Susan V. Booth, whose major revival of Pinter’s masterwork follows her acclaimed directorial debut as Goodman Theatre Artistic Director this past season with Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad.
Emma, Robert and Jerry have history. As Emma’s marriage to Robert comes to an end, she reconnects with Jerry, her former lover—and her husband’s best friend. The action unspools backward in time, uncovering hidden truths and revealing how little we know about those we think we know so much about. Acclaimed stage and screen actor Helen Hunt (Mad About You, As Good As It Gets) makes her Goodman debut in this “elegy about time and memory (where) the greatest dramatic weight lies in what’s unspoken, in the darkness of unsorted feelings” (New York Times).
Robert Sean Leonard’s additional screen appearances include ‘President Harry Truman’ in the Showtime limited series The First Lady and has had recurring roles on the TNT series Falling Skies and the NBC series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Film credits include Much Ado About Nothing, The Age of Innocence, The I Inside, Mr. and Mrs. Bridge, Swing Kids, Tape, Chelsea Walls and Whit Stillman’s The Last Days of Disco. London theater credits include Our Town and ‘Atticus Finch’ in To Kill a Mockingbird at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. Additional Broadway appearances include Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Tony nomination), Born Yesterday, The Violet Hour, The Music Man, The Iceman Cometh, Arcadia, Candida (Tony nomination), Philadelphia, Here I Come!, The Speed of Darkness, Breaking the Code and Brighton Beach Memoirs. He worked on the Ridley Scott-produced mini-series The Hot Zone for National Geographic Television, based on Richard Preston’s bestselling book about the Ebola virus, and has recently wrapped 10 episodes on HBO’s The Gilded Age S2.
In 2022, Hunt undertook a residency at The Old Vic Theatre, portraying a character in Eureka Day. This play delves into the lives of parents serving on the Executive Committee of a progressive private school in Berkeley, California. When faced with a public health crisis, their professed acceptance of diversity is put to the test, revealing their true nature. Written by Jonathan Spector and directed by Katy Rudd, this production marks the European premiere of a highly acclaimed narrative. Alongside Hunt, the cast included Kirsten Foster, Mark McKinney, Ben Schnetzer and Susan Kelechi Watson.
In 2019, Hunt revived her role as Jamie Buchman for another season of the hit show Mad About You opposite Paul Reiser. The show returned as a limited series on Spectrum Originals with all episodes available on demand.
In 2012 Hunt’s performance in The Sessions earned her an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female and notations in the same category by the Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, SAG Awards, Broadcast Film Critics’ Awards and the BAFTA Awards. The film premiered in competition at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and took home the Audience Award as well as the jury prize for Best Ensemble.
Other film credits include: Netflix’s Comedy Candy Jar, Ride (which Hunt also co-wrote, produced, and directed), Decoding Annie Parker, Soul Surfer, Every Day, Bobby, Then She Found Me (which Hunt again also co-wrote, produced and directed), As Good As It Gets, What Women Want, Castaway, A Good Woman, Woody Allen’s The Curse Of The Jade Scorpion, Robert Altman’s Dr. T And The Women, Pay It Forward and Twister. Hunt can last be seen in How It Ends, Michael Cristopher’s The Night Clerk and Adam Randall’s thriller I See You. Early career film credits are: The Waterdance, Kiss Of Death, Mr. Saturday Night, Peggy Sue Got Married, Next Of Kin, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Project X and Miles From Home. Additional television credits include Mad About You and the critically acclaimed HBO Miniseries Empire Falls. For her role as Jamie Buchman in Mad About You, Hunt garnered four Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards (three as lead actress and one as Producer for Best Comedy) and a Screen Actors Guild Award. She was also named “Best Actress” for her role in the film As Good As It Gets for which Hunt won a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award and an Oscar.
Ian Barford returns to the Goodman stage after 27 years having appeared in All The Rage by Keith Reddin and Design For Living by Noël Coward. On Broadway, Tony nomination and Outer Critics award for his performance in Linda Vista. He originated the role of Little Charles in the Tony-winning play August: Osage County which also played at London's National Theater. Original Broadway company of the Tony-winning play Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Nighttime. Also, The Minutes and The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice. In Los Angeles, several stage appearances at the Geffen and Ahmanson Theaters. Ensemble member at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater, where he has appeared in plays for more than 30 years.
Harold Pinter was born on October 10, 1930 in the London borough of Hackney, son of a Jewish dressmaker. Growing up, Pinter was met with the expressions of anti-Semitism, and has indicated its importance for his becoming a dramatist. At the outbreak of the Second World War, he was evacuated from London at the age of nine, returning at the age of twelve. He has said that the experience of wartime bombing has never lost its hold on him. Back in London, he attended Hackney Grammar School where he played Macbeth and Romeo among other characters in productions directed by Joseph Brearley. This prompted him to choose a career in acting. In 1948 he was accepted at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. In 1950, he published his first poems. In 1951 he was accepted at the Central School of Speech and Drama. That same year, he won a place in Anew McMaster’s famous Irish repertory company, renowned for its performances of Shakespeare. Pinter toured again between 1954 and 1957, using the stage name of David Baron. Between 1956 and 1980 he was married to actor Vivien Merchant. In 1980 he married the author and historian Lady Antonia Fraser.
Pinter made his playwriting debut in 1957 with The Room, presented in Bristol. Other early plays were The Birthday Party (1957), at first a fiasco of legendary dimensions but later one of his most performed plays, and The Dumb Waiter (1957). His conclusive breakthrough came with The Caretaker (1959), followed by The Homecoming (1964) and other plays.
Pinter is generally seen as the foremost representative of British drama in the second half of the 20th century. That he occupies a position as a modern classic is illustrated by his name entering the language as an adjective used to describe a particular atmosphere and environment in drama: “Pinteresque”.
Pinter restored theater to its basic elements: an enclosed space and unpredictable dialogue, where people are at the mercy of each other and pretense crumbles. With a minimum of plot, drama emerges from the power struggle and hide-and-seek of interlocution. Pinter’s drama was first perceived as a variation of absurd theater but has later more aptly been characterized as “comedy of menace,” a genre where the writer allows us to eavesdrop on the play of domination and submission hidden in the most mundane of conversations. In a typical Pinter play, we meet people defending themselves against intrusion or their own impulses by entrenching themselves in a reduced and controlled existence. Another principal theme is the volatility and elusiveness of the past.
It is said of Pinter that following an initial period of psychological realism he proceeded to a second, more lyrical phase with plays such as Landscape (1967) and Silence (1968) and finally to a third, political phase with One for the Road (1984), Mountain Language (1988), The New World Order (1991) and other plays. But this division into periods seems oversimplified and ignores some of his strongest writing, such as No Man’s Land (1974) and Ashes to Ashes (1996). In fact, the continuity in his work is remarkable, and his political themes can be seen as a development of the early Pinter’s analyzing of threat and injustice.
Since 1973, Pinter has won recognition as a fighter for human rights, alongside his writing. He has often taken stands seen as controversial. Pinter has also written radio plays and screenplays for film and television. Among his best-known screenplays are those for The Servant (1963), The Accident (1967), The Go-Between (1971) and The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1981, based on the John Fowles novel). Pinter has also made a pioneering contribution as a director.
ABOUT GOODMAN THEATRE
Chicago’s theater since 1925, Goodman Theatre is a not-for-profit arts and community organization in the heart of the Loop, distinguished by the excellence and scope of its artistic programming and community engagement. Led by Artistic Director Susan V. Booth and Executive Director/CEO Roche Schulfer*, the theater’s artistic priorities include new play development (more than 150 world or American premieres), large scale musical theater works and reimagined classics. Artists and productions have earned two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards and more than 160 Jeff Awards, among other accolades. The Goodman is the first theater in the world to produce all 10 plays in August Wilson’s “American Century Cycle.” Its longtime annual holiday tradition, A Christmas Carol, now in its fourth decade, has created a new generation of theatergoers in Chicago. The Goodman also frequently serves as a production and program partner with national and international companies and Chicago’s off-Loop theaters.
As a cultural and community organization invested in quality, diversity and community, Goodman Theatre is committed to using the art of theater for a better Chicago. Using the tools of the theatrical profession, the Goodman’s Education and Engagement programs aim to develop generations of citizens who understand the cultures and stories of diverse voices. The Goodman’s Alice Rapoport Center for Education and Engagement is the home of these programs, which are offered free of charge for Chicago youth—85% of whom come from underserved communities—schools and life-long learners.
Goodman Theatre was founded by William O. Goodman and his family in honor of their son Kenneth, an important figure in Chicago’s cultural renaissance in the early 1900s. The Goodman family’s legacy lives on through the continued work and dedication of Kenneth’s family, including Albert Ivar Goodman, who with his late mother, Edith-Marie Appleton, contributed the necessary funds for the creation of the new Goodman center in 2000.
Today, Goodman Theatre leadership also includes the distinguished members of the Artistic Collective: Rebecca Gilman, Henry Godinez, Dael Orlandersmith, Steve Scott, Kimberly Senior, Chuck Smith and Mary Zimmerman. Julie Danis is Chairman of Goodman Theatre’s Board of Trustees, Lorrayne Weiss is Women’s Board President and Kelli Garcia is President of the Scenemakers Board for young professionals.
*Note: On September 1, 2024, John Collins becomes Executive Director of Goodman Theatre.
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