Battle Lines Drawn, Raven Theatre. We all know Harold Pinter is a great dramatist, but who would have guessed he could be so funny? Raven Theatre director Bill McGough’s staging of A Slight Ache, one of two one-acts on this program, eliminates the soporific silences (jocularly known as “pregnant Pinter pauses”) that typically punctuate productions of his subtext-heavy plays, instead adopting a breezy pace and flippant tone that make the play’s cryptic denouement all the more chilling. The sharp contrast in mood is assisted by Matt Diehl’s delightfully over-the-top performance as a fusty middle-class husand who, one fine summer’s day, is confronted by a wint’ry golem selling matches door-to-door. The man’s terror is exacerbated by the intense interest his wife (played with silky serenity by Donna Smothers) shows in the destitute creature.
