The Caretaker

Synopsis

The bad-tempered tramp and the two brothers. Into his derelict household shrine Aston brings Davies, a tramp - but tramp with pretensions, even if to the world he may be a pathetic old creature. All that is left of his past now is the existence in Sidcup of some papers that will prove exactly who he is and enable him to start again. Aston, too, has his dreams: he has always been good with his hands and there is so much to do in the house. Aston's hopes are tied to his flash brother Mick's; he has aspirations to live in a luxurious apartment. Human nature is a great spoiler of plans, however..

Our Review:

24 November 2000

The New York Times once said of Pinterism that it offers 'maximum tension through minimum information', and this certainly seems to be the case with the author's classic 1960 study of inner-city lowlife, The Caretaker.

At the start of the play we're shown a grungy, Rachman-esque attic, into which three characters walk: a surly greaser (who momentarily stands and scowls in silence before loping off), a whingeing old tramp and a reticent, but neatly dressed, young man. The tramp jabbers on about a recent altercation, while his roommate sits stoically on a bed changing a plug. Naturally, a huge question mark hangs over who these people are, and what they're doing in such awful surroundings.

Slowly though, over the course of three acts, a snapshot of their squalid existence comes into focus. We learn that the greaser and the other young man are brothers, and that between them they own the building. Also, that the nasty looking brother is a terri...

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