The Caretaker

Decrepit beds, an ancient stove, ubiquitous weird tubes: The magnificent detritus of Shawn Reddy’s set greets us at this Curious production of Pinter’s 1959 classic, setting the play’s tone of seedy disorientation with forceful immediacy. The Caretaker is well suited to the side project’s confines, less intimate here than claustrophobic. As much as Pinter’s fluid, vaguely menacing language, the setting suggests anything could happen, though nothing much will.

Over three acts, the mentally challenged Aston takes in the enigmatic tramp Davies and then asks him to leave. Along the way, in a manner that essentially served as the template for David Mamet’s career, the two men and Aston’s brother Mick engage in a convoluted series of machinations, involving assumed identities, disquisitions on interior decorating and a famous slapstick scuffle over a bag. The Caretaker is a bit of a shaggy-dog story, but the final act’s dismissal of Davies retains an emotional heft.

While all the performers engage skillfully with Pinter’s teasing style, the center is Colm O’Reilly, whose mournful visage and stoic deadpan make the part of Aston a perfect fit. The second-act’s monologue, in which Aston details his stay in a mental institution, is structurally an expository weak spot, but O’Reilly renders it compellingly grim. Curious claims Pinter, along with Beckett, as a guiding spirit for its longtime fringe presence; this production, smart and nuanced, if a tad reverential, demonstrates how deeply the company understands the playwright’s work.

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