'The Caretaker' at The Trafalgar Studios

Last night we went to see 'The Caretaker' at the very steep Trafalgar Studios, surrounded (or so it seemed) by young drama students with inappropriate hair wanting to absorb Pinter and Jonathan Pryce's acting. And well they should because he was excellent.

'The Caretaker' is about nothing in particular but manages to encompass a lot of grand themes in a couple of hours. It opens with Davies, an old tramp, being brought into the bedsit room of young Aston who is doing up the house. The room (and stage) is cluttered with a load of junk, all lovingly saved from somewhere, the kind of stuff that *might* be useful for *something* at sometime. There are also various appearances by Aston's younger brother, Mick, who, it seems owns the house that Aston is supposed to be doing up.

It's an odd play, really, with no big plot or story, just a few weeks in the lives of three men during which relationships change and that's about it. But it resonates with so much more. It was first performed 50 years and yet so many of the themes are still relevant today - failure of mental health support, the property market, homelessness - it's still with us today.

And that leads me to Jonathan Pryce's portrayal of the tramp which struck so many chords of recognition - I've seen his tramp at Victoria and on The Strand, usually late at night and slightly the worse for wear. He's got the character down pat but never does he come across as a loveable rogue, he is consistently dodgy and suspect, looking after number 1, a precursor to the 'me' generation.

I liked Peter McDonald's portrayal of Aston, the gentle and caring young man who offers the tramp a bed for a few nights and ends up being verbally abused by him. His long scene about his electric shock treatment in a mental hospital when he was younger was particularly affecting, gradually drawing us into his smaller and claustrophobic world as he recounts the worst terror of his life. You could've heard a pin drop. It was a very powerful performance.

One thing that brought a smile to my face in this rather depressing play was the tap dancing in both acts - I'd joking said I'd hoped for a good song and dance number somewhere in the play and Jonathan Pryce obliged when he tried on new shoes. Twice!