SHAMELESS star Amanda Ryan is among the cast of four for York Theatre Royal's autumn production of Harold Pinter's Betrayal.

Ryan had a two-year stint as Carrie Rogers in Channel 4's late-night scallywag sitcom and also played Lettice Howard alongside Cate Blanchett in the BAFTA-winning film Elizabeth.

In Pinter's 1978 play, she will take the role of Emma, who is married to Robert, the best friend of Jerry, who is Emma's lover.

Pinter duly unravels a backwards-winding path of loss and discovery charting the ultimate betrayal of friend and husband in a timeless study of relationships in the 1960s and 70s that was said to be based on Pinter’s extramarital affair with Joan Bakewell.

A lingering glance, one drink too many and a flirtation at a party are the ingredients for a love triangle that stretches over nine years and weaves a labyrinth of lies and double lives as Pinter explores the high price of passion and the damage inflicted by desire.

Directed by Theatre Royal associate director Juliet Forster, Betrayal will run from October 3 to 18, when Ryan will be joined in the cast by Mark Hesketh as Jerry, Mason Phillips as Robert and York actor Tom Jackson as the Waiter. Hesketh has just filmed the new television series The Missing, part of BBC1's autumn season.

Forster is joined in the production team by designer Dawn Allsopp and lighting designer Alex Stafford- Marshall. The director and cast will take part in a free post-show discussion on October 8, when they will take questions on the play's themes, the rehearsal period and the characters portrayed.

Artistic director Damian Cruden says: "Betrayal has been on our list to look at for a while, and Juliet was keen to direct it as we're interested in plays that are good actors' pieces and this one is very much character-driven. It's a play about the complexity of relationships, and though it's describing the 1960s, it remains a very modern play and hasn't dated at all."

Tickets can be booked on 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk