Pinter before Pinteresque
When Harold Pinter first started out, he rented a couple of rooms in a house on Chiswick High Road in the late '50s. The thing about renting rooms is that you never really know who you're going to end up living with, what they'll be like, or how you'll operate together. And what's the policy on guests?
The playwright lived with two brothers and at one point during his tenancy, the elder brother invited a homeless man to stay with them. Of this evidently inspiring experience Pinter said, “I talked to the tramp only insofar as I bumped into him occasionally on the stairs...that was the only place you could ever meet...he didn't seem very contented with his lot...The image that stayed with me for a long time was of the open door to this room with the two men standing in different parts of the room and doing different things... the tramp rooting around in a bag and the other looking out of the window and simply not speaking...A kind of moment frozen in time”
The Caretaker is just that: a moment frozen in time. An awkward, embarrassing old man, led by a younger, dapper one is invited into a cluttered, dilapidating room. Jonathan Pryce, one of the most refined and distinguished British actors, has eerily transformed himself into a loud, coarse, rambling old man for his portrayal of Davies, the hobo soon to be promoted to maintenance man. You don't want to stare at his clothes lest you notice the stains and to watch him eat requires consciously forcing your face not to grimace.
One thing that strikes you about Christopher Morahan's production is the astute attention to detail: The creaky floorboards, the moonlight on the roof, the stains on the fading wall paper and the mesmerising set by Eileen Diss. Cluttered with everything from old suitcases to manual lawn mowers and a ceramic buddha, you'll never take in everything but that won't stop you trying.
Aston, the young landlord and elder of the two brothers played by Peter McDonald (Dancing at Lughnasa, Nocturne) is the mystery of the first half. Why would a young man invite a sour-scented old tramp to share his room rent free? While Aston tinkers and listens patiently, Davies rambles on revealing Pinter's shrewd understanding of human communication. We might seem eloquent but we are not as logical or nor as stylised as we like to think.
On to the scene bursts Mick (Sam Spurell- Spooks, City of Vice) Aston's younger, harsher, confrontational brother, revealing Aston's weakness and vulnerability. Mick lords over Davies and Davies begins to lord over Aston who, having undergone electric shock therapy, is not at all well. Layers peel away and though there's no compelling plot, this is an intriguing, picture of humanity, a beguiling moment frozen in time.
Photo Credit: Helen Warner
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