The Edge of the Universe Theater set for The Caretaker at Writer's Center

The Edge of the Universe Theater is back after its 2022 Capital Fringe production of Caryl Churchill's A Number, this time with a piece from another acclaimed British playwright. They are showcasing THE CARETAKER by Nobel Prize winner Harold Pinter. The performance of this "important work of theatrical art" (New York Post) stars David Bryan Jackson, Max Johnson, and Mark Krawczyk, with Stephen Jarrett at the helm as director.

The Caretaker at the Writer's Center

Set to be presented at the Writer's Center, The Caretaker holds a message: "It's funny - til it's not." Initially staged in London in 1960, this early triumph of Pinter's still has the knack to intrigue, entertain, and perturb audiences. Shortly after two working-class brothers open their run-down London home to a bragging wanderer, they both make individual job offers to him as a caretaker. Caught in their own private realms of aspirations and illusions, tensions escalate as initial acts of goodwill are overshadowed by emergent cruelties and truths laid bare in this sardonically amusing psychological examination of life's perils and eccentricities.

Director Stephen Jarrett expressed, "This remarkable play is not one that leaps off the page. It's difficult to read; many people find it challenging. The fact, though, is that it teems with life, and offers innumerable 'moments' in which a character - or the audience - realizes a truth. They are moments of connection, heart-stopping for actor, character, and audience. The director's challenge is to find and examine these moments, shepherding a cast of skilled, insightful actors through a rollercoaster of emotions to make it all true enough to effect a change in the viewer, to provoke a feeling of 'yes, this is me.' And all of this with language that might as well be poetry."