The Caretaker at The Old Vic Theatre press night was this evening 6 April 2016. Daniel Mays stars as Aston, Timothy Spall as Davies, and George MacKay as Mick. Directed by Matthew Warchus.
Here is the review roundup so far:
Plays To See: ★★★★★ “Mays’s portrayal of Aston is brilliantly accomplished”
Financial Times: “[Aston’s] monologue is the core of Warchus’s production: delivered with pain and buried rage by Mays in the gathering gloom, it describes how he was robbed of his voice.”
The Times: ★★★★
The Guardian: ★★★★ “…the supreme virtue of Daniel Mays’s performance is that he reminds us that Aston, for all his grace and obsession with three-pin plugs, is full of residual anger.”
The Evening Standard: ★★★★ “Mays carefully captures his vagueness and solitude.”
Radio Times: Mays’s performance –twitching with leftover, unresolved tension – that leaves the lasting mark.
The Daily Mail: ★★★ “Mays strikes a heartbreaking note…”
Time Out: ★★★★ “Mays is superb”
Official London Theatre: “The result is an ensemble piece of the very highest order.”
The Stage: ★★★ “Daniel Mays manages to express much even when being still.”
The Arts Desk: Daniel Mays and George MacKay, as the damaged man who offers shelter and his aggressive brother respectively, are a match for Spall’s theatrics.
The Upcoming: ★★★★ “Daniel Mays’ Aston is slow and stuttering, with a lowly manner that intrigues. There’s a silent, understated loyalty between the brothers, Aston and Mick.”
London Theatre 1: ★★★★★ review (during early previews!) “Daniel Mays brilliantly captures the mood of the time with his maltreated body and tortured soul.”
My Theatre Mates: ★★★★ “Mays gives Aston a wounded dignity which comes as near to pathos as Pinter ever allows.”
London Theatre Guide: ★★★★ “Daniel Mays’ introverted and utterly compelling performance as Ashton who manages to capture that sense of isolation and vulnerability and project it through both speech and movement. His calmness settles the stage and the sparseness in his dialogue leaves much unsaid, making him the most absorbing of the trio.”
City A.M: ★★★★ “Together, they have a compelling command of Pinter’s ponderous script, and this masterful production manages to find comedy and tragedy in the inherent clumsiness of human interaction.”
You will want to book tickets to see this phenomenal play!
Updated 6 April 2016
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