East Bay Express, February, 1994
Candi Ellis

Shotgun Players present Harold Pinter's The Lover, a 1963 peer through strychnine-colored glasses at the institution of marriage, directed by Patrick Dooley. Richard Silberg as Richard and the sublimely watchable Karen Goldstein as Sarah demonstrate that British reserve is the mother of more than one lascivious opportunity. This play meditates on the sterility of marital sex. Or on the ways in which a man can become jealous of himself. Or maybe on the unacknowledged quest for preeminence in which each partner to a union voluntarily and involuntarily participates. No matter. Silberg and Goldstein offer the audience far more than a thoughtful performance. Silberg by turns manages supercilious, sensual, and sadistic, without dropping a stitch. Goldstein's mobile and suggestive face rewards anyone with a good seat. Go early.