The Lover is a meticulously crafted play that highlights the horrific terror that surrounds the private lives of a married couple, as they attempt to accommodate each other’s unsanctioned desires. Pinter beautifully ties together ironic comedy on the one hand and nervy drama on the other. It contrasts bourgeois domesticity with sexual yearning.

On the surface, the plot is about a married couple, going to unfathomable limits to accommodate each other’s most intimate desires. However, as with most of Pinter’s works, what lies behind this charade and pretence is something completely different. Their veneer of compatibility is fracturing under treacherous silences and phrases of conversation that have long lost meaning. As their sanctioned and unsanctioned lives collide, the audience is made to question the faith they have invested in the unpredictable characters of this story and the truths they have been made to contrive.