Playwright Harold Pinter likes to make people wait. Not unlike Samuel Beckett in that regard, his characters talk around issues, ignore them or engage in the pregnant pause often, which can either ratchet up the tension or just annoy the audience.

North Coast Repertory Theatre offers two early Pinter one-acts – both billed as comedies – that titillate, shock, surprise. Both are well-directed by David Ellenstein.

In “The Lover,” we meet Richard (Mark Pinter -- no relation) and Sarah (Elaine Rivkin), who dress as elegantly as they live in a lovely house in Windsor.