The Caretaker
Written by Garold Pinter
Directed by Ron OJ Parson
at Writers’ Theatre, Glencoe (map)
thru March 25 | tickets: $35-$65 | more info
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Gutsy casting, brilliant stage direction bring Pinter to life
Writers’ Theatre presents
The Caretaker
Review by K.D. Hopkins
The first thing that came to my mind as I sat watching this play was the English genre of ‘The Angry Young Men’. It began in the economic hardships post WWII and thrived through the Cold War. At the center of the stories are disillusioned English men raging at the world through drink and low life. It’s the side of England that perhaps came as a shock to a world raised on the image of the Beefeater guards and The Queen; cultural malaise and blatant bigotry against the influx of South Asians and West Indians.
Anish Jethmalani gives a deliciously sinister edge to the character of Aston. Jethmalani’s Aston is a man that’s seemingly sitting on a time bomb ready to detonate. His presence fills the small room that he shares with his brother Mick. Their world is a very masculine environment full of broken appliances and scattered hardware. The disconnected oven is filled with more junk. There is a rusted sink, among other things, on Mick’s bed. Aston sits and fiddles with one of the many broken items but never completes a repair. At first it seems that there is some altruism to Aston’s actions but Pinter’s Absurdist influences come to light immediately. There is no rhyme or reason to the seeming kindness extended to a fast talking hobo.
Younger Brother Mick is played by Kareem Bandealy. This performance is a knockout, and plays beautifully off of the other characters. This is due to Pinter’s gorgeous dialog and the acknowledged influence of Samuel Beckett. Every moment that Bandealy is on the stage has the undercurrent of violence. His physical presence is taut and he delivers a snarling challenge with each line. When Mick interrogates Davies, he leans in to intimidate and makes a bully’s game out of keeping the old man’s pants away from him.
 
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You cannot expect a Pinter play to give any direct answers or deliberate structure. The question of who is the caretaker and who or what is the recipient of care, has both an answer and ambiguity. All of this is done with dark humor and brilliant stage direction by Ron OJ Parson.
The set and props, designed by Jack Magaw and Nick Heggestad respectively, are also a brilliant marvel. It is evocative of a man’s world in pure isolation. The beds are grimy, the curtains are torn pieces of burlap, and there is a feeling of disintegration looming over this seedy world. The costuming is fantastic, showing the carelessness of lonely men. Davies’ dingy underwear and boots are particularly great examples. Mick tells Davies that he stinks and it looks as if he does. The funk vibrates off of the costumes as a sense memory of Uncle Whatever who was always under the hood of a car with a half pint in his back pocket.
This is the world on the other side of the Atlantic that came out of the war differently. America went about producing a baby boom and possessed the hero mentality. We did not get bombed or have to hide in the subway tunnels. In England, it took a while to emerge from the austerity and psychological damage from living in the war zone. Harold Pinter paints a dark but truthful cultural malaise that helped further define the Angry Young Men and Absurdist genres.
Rating: ★★★★
The Caretaker continues through March 25th at The Writers’ Theatre, 664 Vernon Ave., Glencoe (map), with performances Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7:30pm, Thursdays and Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 4pm and 8pm, Sundays at 2pm and 6pm. Tickets are $35-$65, and are available by phone (847-242-6000) or online here. (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com). More information at WritersTheatre.org. (Running time: 2 hours, which includes one 10-minute intermission)
All photos by Michael Brosilow
