IT IS one of those must see plays, one that people talk about and academics continue to try and unravel.
Its writer Harold Pinter, to the point as ever, said: "It’s about two brothers and a caretaker"
And of course, Pinter’s The Caretaker is about just that. But head along to the Lawrence Batley Theatre next week to see a new production of this contemporary classic and you will discover much more.
London Classic Theatre delighted LBT audiences with its performances of another modern classic, The Beauty Queen of Leenane.
Now the company returns for its 10th anniversary production which opens at the theatre on September 9.
Don’t expect a complex plot or storyline. This is Pinter.
A vulnerable, lonely man called Aston takes a drifter called Davies, back to his room in a squalid house owned by his streetwise brother, Mick. Aston allows the older, possibly homeless man to stay.
As time moves on, the brothers ask Davies to be the caretaker at the house, but things don’t seem to work out as planned.
Nothing in the lives of these three characters seems likely to succeed. They simply survive.
What makes this play utterly gripping is the way Pinter uses language to capture the essence of loneliness and the psychological struggle between human beings for power.
The Caretaker is an iconic piece from the Sixties which retains its atmosphere and its power to move and shock audiences 50 years on.
The show’s director Michael Cabot said: "I first read The Caretaker in a school classroom 25 years ago. It remains etched in my memory as a remarkable formative experience.
"I was extremely fortunate that my English teacher had a passion for modern drama, opening my eyes to the fact that a play could be about more than Victorian drawing rooms and Elizabethan verse."
"That a dramatic world could be created that didn’t rely on huge, world altering events. That comedy (and tragedy) could spring from the most innocuous and unusual of settings".
Harold Pinter, who died almost two years ago, was a director, actor, poet, political activist and the writer of 29 plays.
This new production of The Caretaker
features actors: John Dorney, Nicholas Gasson and Richard Stemp.
The four performances in Huddersfield, which include a Saturday matinee, are the first of a major UK tour by London Classic Theatre.
Audiences are warned that the show contains strong language and that only those 14 and over will be admitted.
Tickets from the LBT box office on 01484 430528 or online at www.thelbt.org
