Harold Pinter - Modern Drama at Its Best

The Caretaker 

The Centaur Theatre’s production of Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker is a must to see. This play, no doubt, contributed to Pinter’s winning of the Noble Prize for literature in 2005. The play opened on March 29, 2007, and the performances will continue until April 22, 2007.

You might be interested to know that the play had real-life origins. Pinter became acquainted with two brothers who lived together. One of them brought an old tramp to the house for a brief stay. At the time Pinter himself had very little money, and therefore somewhat identified with the tramp, with whom he spoke occasionally.

Pinter - a contemporary, modern dramatist - has created a play that might not readily appeal to those who like vigorous physical action on stage. In The Caretaker, a much subtler type of forward movement is achieved, surprisingly created with total silences or words and phrases uttered seemingly out of the blue. The play, often identified as absurd, in fact very much resembles life. As in real life there are discordant words and conversations, uninterested and self-absorbed listeners, misunderstood and misconstrued statements. The characters often talk past each other rather than conversing. They also dishonour confidences, play power games, manipulate to gain advantage, not realizing that in the process they “bite the hand that feeds them”. Worst of all, they are blind to caring gestures by others, either taking them for granted, or dismissing them altogether as a nuisance.

Though the play is often compared to Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot in that nothing really happens regardless of an implied sense of expectation, there is however a significant difference between the two plays. The Caretaker’s characters are not waiting for anybody (like Godot) and therefore doing nothing because of it, as in Beckett’s play. They are simply procrastinating, regardless of their plans and projects. Such plans and projects are totally absent in the Beckett play. However, what makes both plays similar is the sense of expectation, of some impending change to shortly take place which, of course, never happens.

Pinter’s play is about people with mundane plans that have absolutely no chance of ever materializing. Beckett’s play is about people without any plans but with a hope of seeing Godot (some critics postulate that Godot is actually God), and this hope also never materializes.

The Caretaker has the power to make you question your life, and to examine your own projects which have been shelved, where they have been gathering dust. Though nurtured periodically in your thoughts, they remain right where they are, non-materialized. This play might also force you to take a better look at your interactions with those close to you. It could even propel you to be more attentive to others, more appreciative and grateful for any gestures of kindness and concern.

Where:
Centaur Theatre Company453 St.
François-XavierMontreal QuebecH2Y 2T
www.centauretheatre.com
Box Office Telephone: (514) 288-3161

Photo Above:
An earlier photo of Harold Pinter
by Martin Rosenbaum