CityLife

The Caretaker

THIS is the play which, in the sixties, launched the career of the late
playwright Harold Pinter.

If you're already familiar with this work you'll probably either love or
loathe it.

However, this illuminating production, directed by Mark Babych, could well change any negative opinions about this contemporary masterpiece. It certainly did for me.

Pinter was noted for his pauses which, he claimed, were as important as the dialogue.

This actor turned playwright, certainly knew his craft and set the mould for a very different kind of theatre.

This is clearly demonstrated in the shifting balance of power between an old tramp and two brothers. Davies, the tramp, is superbly realised by Royal Shakespeare Company and Library Theatre veteran Paul Webster, a previous M.E.N. Award-winner,  who gives a master-class in acting.

There are also excellent performances from the two brothers.

Psychological mind games

Jeff Hordley, perhaps best known as Cain Dingle from Emmerdale, was last seen at the Octagon in Oh! What A Lovely War. In turn he is both menacing and mocking as Mick playing psychological mind games to scare Davies away.

Matthew Rixon, recently seen in The Crucible, plays Aston who initially invites the tramp into their lives and who tells, in a poignant soliloquy,
how he's suffered electric shock treatment in a mental institution.

The tempo, in this power game over territorial rights, veers between the comic and the tragic. I've never heard so much laughter in the first act of this play.

It's a challenging work to direct and is one of the final productions for
artistic director Mark Babych who leaves for pastures new.

During his tenure he has placed the Octagon firmly on the cultural map with this and all his first class productions and he'll certainly be a hard act to follow.

The Caretaker is on at the Bolton Octagon until Saturday, March 28.

Tweet