The collection

Stella returns from her dress collection in Leeds to tell James, her husband, that she has been unfaithful. James confronts Bill, pressing for the truth, already determined to believe the worst. Bill confesses that he and Stella had only talked about spending the night together. It had amused him to perpetuate Stella's story - to hurt his friend Harry. Is this the truth? Stella is silent.

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The lover

The Lover follows the married couple Richard and Sarah as they struggle for balance and control, each bending the rules and risking instability as they come dangerously close to destruction. A respectable businessman, Richard leaves for work every day and agrees not to return before six so that Sarah can enjoy her lover after lunch. He visits a call girl in this time. But when Richard suggests the four of them meet, the role-playing games get out of hand and lead to unexpected conflict. The lover tires of his mistress and their worlds collide. Harold Pinter leads the audience to believe that there are three characters in the play: the wife, the husband and the lover. But the lover who comes to call in the afternoons is revealed to be the husband adopting a role. He plays the lover for her: she plays the call girl for him. The play contrasts bourgeois domesticity with sexual yearning. Another Off-Broadway success by one of the theatre's most inventive and versatile writers. A subtle blending of artful nuance, veiled menace and zany humour.