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★★★★★

“Pinter's The Caretaker is a powerful play that, if...”

written by on 11/02/2010

Pinter's The Caretaker is a powerful play that, if directed and performed with intelligence, can create tremendous dramatic tension. The battle of wills that takes place between the tramp Davies and Mick, shows us the very primal territorial instincts of human beings. And what are Davies and Mick battling for? On the surface, it seems to be over the room; a place of refuge for the homeless Davies and a place for Mick to dream of his future. But on a deeper level, the two antagonists are battling for the loyalty of Aston, who we later learn was treated with shock therapy at an earlier age, and is now mentally impaired. This information is delivered in a chilling monologue that skewers the idiocies of this barbaric treatment. Ironically, the monologue is delivered to Davies who has no capacity or will to appreciate what's being said. But it's a story that Mick would know too well. For the younger brother Mick is a Caretaker for his older brother Aston. Clearly, there is frustration and anger that Mick feels for having to care for his brother, and yet he sees that Davies is using his brother to gain access to the room where Aston lives, and that arouses Mick's loyalty for his brother. Or does it? Mick could easily throw Davies out, and yet he doesn't. Instead, he makes a game of it with Davies, going along with a fiction that Davies might be a qualified caretaker for Mick's properties. It seems pointless for Mick to play this game, for Davies is not qualified, and is clearly a free-loader, and yet Mick seems unwilling to evict Davies. He seems to be leaving the decision in his mentally impaired brother's hands. Remarkably, by play's end, Aston does ask Davies to leave; Davies has now lost his main ally and can no longer play the brothers against each other. This is the climax of the play; an important breakthrough, and the audience should feel a deepening bond between the brothers, who have been brought together by Davies, the interloper.

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