THE minute the lights
shine on the set of The Caretaker I just wanted to get up and tidy it
up. Full of junk, paint and wallpaper peeling off the wall, dirty, a
bucket suspended from the roof and faulty electrics, it is the
epitome of squalidness.
It is of course meant
to be like that and is actually one of the stand out features of
Matthew Warchus's production of Harold Pinter's play, now on at the
Old Vic.
The story concerns
Davies a drifter of a man who finds himself living in the flat which
is owned by two brothers. One, Mick is twitchy, overbearing, slightly
sinister and speaks at about a million miles an hour. The other,
Aston, who befriends Davies and takes him in, is very slow, clearly
damaged at having been institutionalised, generous and friendly and
constantly trying to fix a plug.
Davies, played by
Timothy Spall, looks like he's been pulled through several hedges
backwards - wiry and wild grey hair all over the place, grubby and
dishevelled I just wanted to show him the nearest bath and get him
cleaned up!
Nothing really happens
in the piece other than these three men vying for power, and
comparisons with Waiting For Godot are unsurprising.
But it is a fascinating
look at their lives. They are all outsiders in one way or another,
lacking identity but desperate to belong and in the case of Davies,
wanting to go and find his papers in Sidcup - a journey he never
quite manages.
The performances are
exceptional. Daniel Mayes as the quiet Aston is brilliant, showing
flashes of anger at times to hint at there being more to him than
meets the eye.
George MacKay is
equally brilliant as Mick suggesting that there is something not just
sinister about his character but manic and manipulative.
Timothy Spall is
fabulous as Davies, switching from vulnerable old man to cocky and
cunning as he pokes around the flat trying to find something to
steal.
Brilliantly staged it
is also very funny with some hilarious scenes including one in which
Davies puts on a smoking jacket over his grubby and moth eaten
clothes and assumes the air of a gent.
Just fabulous.
The Caretaker is on at
the Old Vic, Waterloo until Saturday, May 14. Visit
www.oldvictheatre.com/ for full listings.
No comments:
Post a Comment