«Опекун» Гарольда Пинтера: Пьеса о власти, обмане и молчании.

Play by Harold Pinter

The Caretaker is a drama in three acts by Harold Pinter. Although it was the sixth of his major works for stage and television, this psychological study of the confluence of power, allegiance, innocence, and corruption among two brothers and a tramp, became Pinter's first significant commercial success. Hickling writes in this review of a production directed by Mark Babych in March 2009:

Pinter's own comment on the source of three of his major plays is frequently quoted by critics:

The language and plot of The Caretaker blends Realism with the Theatre of the Absurd. In the Theatre of the Absurd language is used in a manner that heightens the audience's awareness of the language itself, often through repetition and circumventing dialogue. The play has often been compared to Waiting for Godot, by Samuel Beckett, and other absurdist plays because of its apparent lack of plot and action. The fluidity of the characters is explained by Ronald Knowles as follows: "Language, character, and being are here aspects of each other made manifest in speech and silence. Character is no longer the clearly perceived entity underlying clarity of articulation the objectification of a social and moral entelechy but something amorphous and contingent (41).

One of the keys to understanding Pinter's language is not to rely on the words a character says but to look for the meaning behind the text. The Caretaker is filled with long rants and non sequiturs, the language is either choppy dialogue full of interruptions or long speeches that are a vocalised train of thought. Although the text is presented in a casual way, there is always a message behind its simplicity. Pinter is often concerned with "communication itself, or rather the deliberate evasion of communication" (Knowles 43). The play's staccato language and rhythms are musically balanced through strategically placed pauses. Pinter toys with silence, where it is used in the play and what emphasis it places on the words when they are at last spoken.

The Caretaker is a drama of mixed modes; both tragic and comic, it is a tragicomedy. As Arden states, family relationships are one of the main thematic concerns of the play. Another prevalent theme is the characters' inability to communicate productively with one another. The play depends more on dialogue than on action; however, though there are fleeting moments in which each of them does seem to reach some understanding with the other, more often, they avoid communicating with one another as a result of their own psychological insecurities and self concerns. The theme of isolation appears to result from the characters' inability to communicate with one another, and the characters' own insularity seems to exacerbate their difficulty communicating with others. As the characters also engage in deceiving one another and themselves, deception and self deception are motifs, and certain deceptive phrases and self deceptive strategies recur as refrains throughout the dialogue. Davies uses an assumed name and has convinced himself that he is really going to resolve his problems relating to his lack of identity papers, even though he appears too lazy to take any such responsibility for his own actions and blames his inaction on everyone but himself. Aston believes that his dream of building a shed will eventually reach fruition, despite his mental disability. Mick believes that his ambitions for a successful career outweigh his responsibility to care for his mentally damaged brother. In the end however all three men are deceiving themselves. Their lives may continue on beyond the end of the play just as they are at the beginning and throughout it. The deceit and isolation in the play lead to a world where time, place, identity, and language are ambiguous and fluid.

On 27 April 1960, the first production of The Caretaker opened at the Arts Theatre, in London, prior to transferring to the West End's Duchess Theatre on 30 May 1960. It starred Donald Pleasence as Davies, Alan Bates as Mick, and Peter Woodthorpe as Aston. The productions received generally strong reviews.

Arden, John. Book review of The Caretaker, by Harold Pinter. New Theatre Mag. 1.4 (July 1960): 29–30. Billington, Michael. Harold Pinter. 1996. London: Faber and Faber, 2007. (13). Updated 2nd ed. of The Life and Work of Harold Pinter. 1996. London: Faber and Faber, 1997. (10). Print. Esslin, Martin. The Theatre of the Absurd. 1961. 3rd ed. New York: Vintage Books, 2004. (10). (13). Print. Hickling, Alfred. "The Caretaker: Octagon, Bolton". Guardian. Guardian Media Group, 13 March 2009. Web. 28 May 2009. (Rev. of production directed by Mark Babych.) Jones, David. "Travels with Harold". Front & Center Online. Roundabout Theatre Company, Fall 2003. Web. 12 March 2009. ("Online version of the Roundabout Theatre Company's subscriber magazine.") Knowles, Roland. The Birthday Party and The Caretaker: Text and Performance. London: Macmillan Education, 1988. 41–43. Print. Naismith, Bill. Harold Pinter. Faber Critical Guides. London: Faber and Faber, 2000. Print. Pinter, Harold. The Caretaker: A Play in Three Acts. London: Encore Publishing Co., 1960. OCLC 10322991. Print. –––. The Caretaker and The Dumb Waiter: Two Plays by Harold Pinter 1960. New York: Grove Press, 1988. (10). (13). Print. Powlick, Leonard. " 'What the hell is that all about?' A Peek at Pinter's Dramaturgy." Harold Pinter: Critical Approaches. Ed. Steven H. Gale. Cranbury, NJ: Associated UP, 1986. 30–37. Print. Richardson, Brian. Performance review of The Caretaker, Studio Theatre (Washington D. C.), 12 September 1993. The Pinter Review: Annual Essays 1994. Ed. Francis Gillen and Steven H. Gale. Tampa: U of Tampa P, 1994. 109–10. Print. Scott, Michael, ed. Harold Pinter: The Birthday Party, The Caretaker, The Homecoming: A Case Book. London: Macmillan Education, 1986. Print.