SOURCE: Jensen, Hal. “Buried Alive.” Times Literary Supplement, no. 4879 (4 October 1996): 23.

In the following review, Jensen discusses the theme of the confusion of memory and desire in Pinter's Ashes to Ashes.

Two armchairs, two side-tables, two lamps and a large window; a man and a woman, in their forties, enter; there is silence. This is the most that can be stated categorically about Harold Pinter's new play, Ashes to Ashes. We are given information sufficient to make the situation as unremarkable as possible. The woman (Lindsay Duncan) is called Rebecca, and the man (Stephen Rea) is called Devlin, although we know this only if we look at the script. As soon as Rebecca begins to speak, all certainty evaporates. She could be talking about something highly erotic or very upsetting; she could be talking about a lover, or she could be giving vent to her imagination.

Devlin begins delving...