My Reaction to The Caretaker

I personally enjoyed this play the least of all 4 plays we studied in the drama section of our curriculum. This Absurdist play did not seem to fit its genre entirely, at least when compared to the full-fledged Absurdist nature of Waiting for Godot and The Bald Soprano. The Caretaker seemed like a softened application of Theatre of the Absurd. There is little repetition, in speech coming mainly from Mick, and in action appearing in Aston's constant tinkering with the toaster. The setting of the play, however, does seem to support the semi-chaotic nature of Absurdist plays, a room riddled with different forms of junk. It is interesting to consider the scene in juxtaposition with Samuel Beckett's Wait for Godot, where the stage is barren except for the tree and the characters. There were no real instances of physical comedy in The Caretaker apart for the scene where Davies, Mick and Aston fight over the bag. Before reading this play, I had read The Birthday Party, also by Harold Pinter, in theatre class, which was far more aggressive than The Caretaker as an Absurdist piece. I felt little of anything while reading this play, apart from boredom. I found that the knowledge that Aston was actually once in an asylum made it far less absurdist, since his behavior would be understandable as a "crazy" person. Generally, at least in the case of the other Absurd plays we read, the characters are made to seem entirely normal, and the audience is made to feel like there is something wrong with themselves, rather than with the characters. I ended the play feeling somewhat disappointed and unsatisfied. Perhaps this is due to the expectations I had when I started reading it since I was comparing it to the previous Absurd plays we read.