The Caretaker

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That is not evident from Matthew Warchus’s new production. It has a terrific cast. It has sparky moments. But it is not nuanced and never driven. Despite obtrusive music between scenes – doomy chords and what sounds like an amplified mobile phone – there is scarcely a hint of terror. Scarcely a sense that these laughs are a sign of teetering on the edge. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.

Naismith, Bill. Harold Pinter. Faber Critical Guides. London: Faber and Faber, 2000. ISBN 0-571-19781-7. Print. What's On: The Caretaker (archived past seasons). Sheffield Theatres, n.d. Web. 13 March 2009. (Run at Sheffield Theatres ended on 11 November 2006.)See also: Characteristics of Harold Pinter's work §"Two silences", and Characteristics of Harold Pinter's work §The "Pinter pause" Arden, John. Book review of The Caretaker, by Harold Pinter. New Theatre Mag. 1.4 (July 1960): 29–30. Knowles, Roland. The Birthday Party and The Caretaker : Text and Performance. London: Macmillan Education, 1988. 41–43. Print. I mean, we don't have any conversation, you see? You can't live in the same room with someone who...who don't have any conversation with you. Davies, 46 Esslin, Martin. The Theatre of the Absurd. 1961. 3rd ed. New York: Vintage Books, 2004. ISBN 1-4000-7523-8 (10). ISBN 978-1-4000-7523-2 (13). Print.

The play's staccato language and rhythms are musically balanced through strategically placed pauses. Pinter toys with silence, where it is used in the play and what emphasis it places on the words when they are at last spoken. Virginia Museum Theater (VMT), directed by James Kirkland. Part of the mission of the Virginia Museum at the time was to disseminate the arts, including drama, widely to the people of Virginia. In this regard, it is noteworthy that this was the second Pinter play to be produced by VMT, showing the increasing popularity of his works. This production followed the company's statewide tour of The Homecoming two years previously. [10] As far as I know Harold Pinter, plot and story are usually non-existent in his works, but I still write a few lines about what goes on in this play.I would like to say this is a funny play – but it isn’t, even though I did smile quite a few times. There is an underlying nastiness and aggression to the play that is all too masculine and all too disturbing. And Pinter has an unfailing eye for cognitive dissonance and for the lies we tell ourselves so as to reduce the torments of this dissonance. He has ways of holding a mirror up to ourselves, well, if we are brave enough to look, brave enough to see beyond what is actually being shown.