About the Play:

The Caretaker was named by the Royal National Theatre of Britain as one of the top 100 plays of the 20th century.

The Caretaker is a full-length comedic drama by Nobel prize-winner Harold Pinter. A fast talking drifter enters and changes the lives of two brothers who live together in a cluttered London apartment. This early work from Harold Pinter is compelling study of loneliness and power games that still has the power to amuse, to shock and to fascinate.

The Caretaker is a psychological study of the confluence of power, allegiance, innocence and corruption set in a cluttered west London flat. Davies, an aging down-and-out man, is given shelter by the kindly but vulnerable Aston. He quickly settles in, calmly making himself at home in the squalid, junk-filled room. At first it seems that the manipulative guest will take advantage of his Samaritan host until Aston's brother, Mick, a far more astute character, arrives. A battle of wits begins as the brothers seek to manipulate the old man to their respective ends. Both offer Davies the 'caretaker position'. But Davies has his own agenda and an enigmatic power struggle emerges between the three men that is in equal parts menacing, touching and darkly comic. It was with this strikingly original play that Harold Pinter had his first significant commercial success.

The Caretaker premiered in 1960 at the Arts Theatre Club in London's West End. It enjoyed long runs in both London and New York and there have been many major and minor revivals of the play worldwide. It remains one of Harold Pinter's most celebrated works.

Cast: 3 male

What people say:

"…powerful drama with a climax that tears at the heart." — The New York Times

"…wonderful, beautiful theatre." — New York Daily News

"…an important work of theatrical art." — New York Post

About the Playwright:

Harold Pinter (1930-2008) was an English playwright, screenwriter, actor, theatre director, poet, and Nobel laureate. He wrote 29 plays including The Birthday Party, The Caretaker, The Homecoming, and Betrayal, 15 dramatic sketches, 21 screenplays, as well as books of poetry and fiction, and directed 27 theatre productions. He continued to act under his own name, on stage and screen. His genius was recognized within his lifetime as a recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005 (the highest honour available to any writer in the world), the Companion of Honour for services to Literature, the Legion D'Honneur, the European Theatre Prize, the Laurence Olivier Award and the Moliere D'Honneur for lifetime achievement. In 1999 he was made a Companion of Literature by the Royal Society of Literature, in addition to 18 other honorary degrees.