First photos: Tom Hiddleston & the cast of Betrayal

We’ve all experienced betrayal in one form or another. That bitter feeling in the pit of your stomach, that rueful burn. But whereas we simply cried when our siblings stole our Easter eggs (thanks, guys), Tom Hiddleston, Charlie Cox and Zawe Ashton have set out to look ferocious. And ferocious they are in Harold Pinter’s Betrayal, which opened at the Harold Pinter Theatre tonight.

Bringing to a close Jamie Lloyd’s pioneering Pinter at the Pinter season – which marks the tenth anniversary of the extraordinary playwright’s death – Betrayal is a poetic, poignant exploration of a seven-year romance, thrillingly penned in reverse order. As captivating as it is cutting, the play features a triumphant trio of passionate performances.

Combining all the elements of Pinter which made his works true classics in British theatre – from rich humour to extraordinary emotional force – Betrayal stars Golden Globe and Olivier Award winner Tom as Robert, with Fresh Meat’s Zawe Ashton as Emma and The Theory Of Everything’s Charlie Cox as Jerry.

The play is booking at the Harold Pinter Theatre until 1 June – but you can take a look at the cast in action below (all photos credited to Marc Brenner).

Betrayal was first produced by the National Theatre in 1978. The original cast featured Pinter at the Pinter company members Penelope Wilton and Michael Gambon.

Tom Hiddleston returns to the London stage following his acclaimed Hamlet directed by Kenneth Branagh and his Evening Standard Award-winning performance in Coriolanus at the Donmar Warehouse in 2014.