Carol

• “It has split not just audiences, but the cast of the play. In a pre-first night interview, Suchet and Williams, who play lecturer and student, were interrupted by an angry Pinter when they showed their sympathies too clearly. 'No way is that rape,' Suchet said. 'On the simplest level, she's lying and she's on her way to getting him destroyed.' Williams countered: 'Her accusation is absolutely, 100 per cent, legitimate.'”

Rebecca Pidgeon• Her character in that particular play, a

college student of ambiguous sexuality who brings her professor up on charges of sexual harassment and sticks around to witness his plunge into hell, was such a "tough" role -- "not even a fun boo-hiss kind of villain"-- that Pidgeon was forced to sneak out a side entrance of the theatre after each performance "to avoid being accosted by all kinds of people," as she recalls it today.

Lia Williams• "The first night when David Suchet beat [Lia

Williams] up, the men in the audience really gave her a rough time, and cheered. She wasn't expecting it [...] I had to say to her, it's not you. The only thing you can do is stand up for yourself and say I'm above all this, as the character does. She's indomitable, whether you like her or not. She can say, you1ve beaten me up, I'm hurt, but nevertheless you're going to make this statement. When that happens in our last five minutes, the audience is absolutely silent. Lia has really triumphed too. It's not very pleasant being detested on stage, to find the audience antagonsitic."