Programme Cover
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The
Caretaker, Mermaid Theatre, London, March 1972
Mick - John Hurt
Aston - Jeremy Kemp
Davies - Leonard Rossiter
Directed by Christopher Morahan
Designer - Eileen Diss
Review by Michael Billington
The Mermaid has been going through
a rough patch lately; but with this timely, beautifully cast revival
of The Caretaker its star is back in the ascendant. The director,
Christopher Morahan, has striped the work of that semi-religious
awe we tend to bring to Pinter nowadays and chosen to play it fast,
light and funny. Yet at the same time he shows a sure grasp of the
playís essential themes: the threat posed by territorial invasion,
the intrusion of the balance of terror into private relationships
and manís inability to seize a lifeline even when heís sinking fast.
Morahanís production also brings out to the full the detailed naturalistic
surface on which Pinter steadily builds; and proves, aided by a
magnificent performance from Leonard Rossiter, that the itinerant
Davies is one of the richest post-war theatrical creations. Shedding
the remembered Pleasence inflections, Rossiter gives us a cawing,
predatory scarecrow-figure whose hands seem to be forever fending
off invisible weights, whose voice constantly aspires to a pseudo-gentility
and whose being exudes a dynamic lethargy.
As his Arturo Ui and Fred Midway proved, heís an actor whose forte
is the manic-grotesque; and he here achieves brilliantly funny effects
by following the old chaplain technique of showing that dirt and
delicacy are not irreconcilable. The tongue may be constantly probing
the lower lip as if he were some obscene, hungry reptile; yet when
a dust-covered counterpane is thrust into his mitts he handles it
with almost feminine distaste.
But this is not to undervalue the beautifully grave calm Jeremy
Kemp brings to the lobotomised Aston or the equivocal clumsiness
of John Hurtís whey-faced Mick. But, above all, Mr. Morahan has
done Pinter a great service by showing that his work is not holy
writ and that the famous pause-and-effect technique has been much
over-stressed. This is Pinter accurately realised and without a
hint of pretentiousness.
The Guardian, 3rd March 1972
with kind permissio
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