The Caretaker

Waikato Times Review
What: The Caretaker
When: Monday and Tuesday, February 23, 24, 2009
Where: The Perfume Garden
Entry: $15/$10
Reviewed by: Matt Richens
Playwright Harold Pinter is an acquired taste - of that there is little doubt.
Balancing on, or just over, the line of madness for an entire production is a art-form and three Hamilton performers did it justice last night.
Michael Potts, James and Ben Cain brought Pinter's The Caretaker to a small crowd.
Some knew of Pinter's style and the traits of the theatre of the absurd.
Some didn't or just weren't quite aware of what intermission meant and walked out.
Potts, who also directed the production, played Aston, a mentally challenged man with a fascination for junk.
Aston meets elderly Davies (Ben Cain) and gives him a place to stay after saving him from a cafe brawl and the two men become friends, in the loosest sense.
Davies is a racist who is obsessed with draughts, shoes that don't fit and gas leaks.
Meanwhile, Aston fidgets his way through the show.
Aston's brother, Mick, played by Ben Cain's younger brother, James, turns up and causes havoc. Impressively portrayed by Cain Jnr, Mick blows hot and cold and creates animosity between Aston and Davies.
The highlights of the show were the three players' monologues. While the topics of the monologues were serious, all three captured the audience using different speed, volume and delivery.
It was an impressive rendition of an extremely difficult production pulled off by three clever young men.