Harold Pinter's The Caretaker

[Karl Rommel]

Hi All

I've just finished reading the play and I'm left with the thought: What's the point?

Is there one?

Have I read the wrong play?

KR

[kelby_lake]

Many people have that feeling with Pinter's plays.

[Patrick_Bateman]

I'm reminded of the song lyric "I spat on Plath and Pinter"

[Seasider]

I'm sorry to bring up this old chestnut again but playwrights write to be seen and heard, not to be read. I write plays and I know how the response to them is best gauged. This is particularly true of Pinter...his famous pauses for example may not even be noticed in a reading. Pinter is a playwright of suspense, of threat, of menace and of ambiguity. Go and see a performance and see if it makes a difference. Or if none is available see the film The Servant for which Pinter wrote the screenplay. He is in my opinion and that is shared by many critics a major figure in 20th Century drama.

[Karl Rommel]

Don't be sorry Seasider - I/we probalbly have not read all your posts.

Yes I have seen The Servant but I have never made the connection with Pinter, so yes, that is helpful.

As for lyrics Patrick

http://www.mp3lyrics.org/m/manic-street-preachers/faster/

Don't know the song.

[dfloyd]

and the so called Theatre of the Absurd. Also, a movie was made of The Caretaker in the early 60s. Whether you like or dislike the plays of Pinter, Beskett, or Ionesco is up to you, but by investigating various play/character analysis you can certainly come to understand them.

[Babak Movahed]

This play was fantastic!!! It is an extremely modern play, so in regards to plot or theme there isn't much point. However, that doesn't mean it isn't a valuable read. Pinter is outstanding at manipulating language by capturing the pace and ambiguity of it. He hardly incorporates any explication in his dialogue, and most of his lines are no longer than a few sentences long, which leads to an interpretation of what is actually being said. Most plays with a "point" consist of a singular plot and major theme, which is fine, but doesn't leave much room for interpenetration, well not as much as a play like Pinter's does. But hey Pinter's style isn't for everyone I suppose.