Theatre Review: The Caretaker at The Gate, Dublin

Harold Pinter’s play centres on the strange relationship between two brothers, Aston (Marty Rea) and Mick (Garrett Lombard), and a third man, a vagrant, Davies (Michael Feast), that Aston has graciously allowed to stay in his flat.

Following the logic that no good deed ever goes unpunished, however, Aston comes to regret that decision. Davies proves an ungrateful wretch, manipulative and unhinged, but the awful night terrors he suffers in his sleep point to his demons.

In contrast to the benign Aston, who has struggled with his mental health, Mick is insidious. Casually sadistic and in truck to haughty visions of his own success as a builder, he nevertheless feels an ambivalent duty to take care of his older brother. But will he become prey to Davies’ attempts to divide them?

Steeped in a blend of grittiness and absurdity that unites Pinter with Samuel Beckett, The Caretaker is very enigmatic. First produced in 1960, it proved a formative play for the young playwright and set down what would become trademarks of Pinter’s — chiefly, an intense attention to language and a favouring of character over narrative.

Toby Frow’s production here bracingly captures the more enigmatic qualities of the play, even if the emotional ties between the two brothers are perhaps too muted. Similarly, Mick’s interests in recruiting Davies as a ‘caretaker’ are never quite made clear.

All of the performances are impressive. Feast’s tramp is a picture of a raw and contorting humanity, while Rea’s slow and sedate words and gestures as the wounded Aston are deeply affecting.

• The Caretaker runs until March 21