|
 |
Brink's ‘The Caretaker’.
 A
quick lunch time interview snatched in the midst of a gruelling
rehearsal schedule might not be the most popular amongst the
actors concerned, but it gets the job done - and so over coffee
and cigarettes I convene with Brink ensemble members David Mealor
and William Allert, and Sydney actor Anthony Phelan (Tony) to
discuss Brink Theatre’s forthcoming show at the Odeon as part
of the Fringe Festival.
Brink are doing a Harold Pinter play - ‘The Caretaker’, in fact. It is perhaps the English playwright’s best known, and one much loved in high school curriculae around the country. Brink have done the piece before; at Belvoir St in Sydney some 18 months ago, but never performed it here in their home town of Adelaide. "It seemed well received," begins Mealor, which seems almost an understatement.
"Also after doing ‘Killer Joe’ at the Fringe last time there seemed a pattern of us doing a rejigging for the Fringe, in a way," adds Allert. "A whole new audience gets to see it, because we never did it here last time."
And, as they point out, the company thought it a good thing to come back to Pinter, having kicked off some eight years ago with Pinter’s ‘Mojo’. Perhaps there’s a return to absurdist theatre in general, I ponder.
"I don’t think it’s ever gone away," offers Phelan, leaning forward and sounding somewhat sonorous. He cackles a bit of a laugh as he thinks, no doubt, of some of the audience to whom he has played. "It’s about their life, and their plight is absurd, and audiences like to be reminded of that."
‘The Caretaker' is a psychological drama, wherein two brothers meet and ‘befriend’ an old tramp, Davies, whose only way of dealing with the world is to take what he can and push for more.
He’s mean, manipulative, greedy, coarse, and entirely a product of his life’s experience, so his conflict with the brothers (played by Mealor and Allert) is only going to end one way.
Phelan (playing Davies) reflects on the "psychological efficiency" of the script under the direction of acclaimed Adelaidean Hannah McDougall.
"My character is someone who is desperate and down on his luck - they’re all very different people, and it’s kind of a triumvirate of manipulation based on three very interesting characters."
Mealor suggests, "It’s just a really well made play, and I think that’s one of the things we’re really excited about in doing it.
"If Tony’s character, Davies, was a bit kinder and a bit more compassionate there would be no play. He can’t help himself - he just has to dig his own grave," he laughs.
Though a well dressed set is not exactly the Brink way - there’s been a few Brink productions over the years featuring effectively stark and minimalist set design - here the set reflects a lifetime spent hoarding. A garret is cluttered with bits and pieces collected over the years - a kitchen sink is stored under the bed. The three actors work their way around, and through, the detritus.
Written by an English playwright, ‘The Caretaker’ is full of cockney expressions, and the language in any Pinter work is all-important. And yet, it can be the one thing that goes so wrong and makes a good performance otherwise jarring. Is the cockney accent required of an Australian theatre group?
Says Allert, "When you get into the rhythm of the language you find that if you were not to do it with the accents you’d find you were butting up against the rhythm." He pauses to consider his feelings on Pinter’s language. "I don’t think is is going too far to say it’s written like music."
And so, with only a couple of days rehearsal under their belts, all three pronounce themselves satisfied with the way the play is coming together; "it’s a great theatre, almost my favourite in Adelaide," notes Mealor of the Odeon Theatre, their home for the next three weeks.
Phelan is happing in suggesting they’re still refining the performance, and I’m looking forward to the meanness he’s imbuing into his character Davies.
"So much of Pinter’s work is about taking and guarding territories," he says, leaning forward once more. "And about shifting alliances and territories. Without sounding like a press release, there’s hardly anything more relevant to Australia today, I would think, than an examination of territory and our alliances."
Alex Wheaton
 |
Brink’s ‘The Caretaker’ plays as part of the Fringe at the Odeon Theatre from Sat 28 Feb.
|
|
|
The latest issue
available now!
|
