Amid the ballyhoo that surrounded Harold Pinter’s Nobel laureateship, a perceptive citation stressed how the plays underline “the hide-and-seek of interlocution.” It’s an aspect of the writing that is treated brilliantly by Rikki Tarascus in a production ofThe Caretaker.
 
The piece marked the debut of the Lewes Repertory Theatre at the town’s All Saints Arts Centre. Best known for his work with Theatre Totale, Tarascus explores the peek-a-boo element of the plot by using every inch of the venue, a converted church, such that the brothers observe Davies at all times from the voms, overhead walkways and even an organ loft. He has no respite; the innovative staging ratchets up the menace and makes the occasional moments of physical intimacy all the more powerful.

The production is anchored on outstanding work from Phil Rhodes as Mick and S.J. O’Kane as the tramp. Rhodes’ abundant technical resources allow him to convey his madness using subtle gesture within seconds of his entrance. He appears brooding and predatory at all times and hardly has a slack moment.

Similarly, O’Kane’s interpretation of Davies teems with innovative touches including a monologue in which he interacts with the audience using a vacuum cleaner as a microphone. It’s an inspired turn but at other times O’Kane treads delicately through the hinterland that divides comedy from psychological breakdown. The laughs are there but are reined in judiciously.

However unusual the staging, the treatment remains rigorously textual and there is justification in Pinter’s directions for all of the innovations, notably the way in which the brothers are empowered by the unusual amount of movement.

Tarascus makes extensive use of incidental music ranging from Tchaikovsky to ragtime, the incantatory nature of a final jazz number contributing to the tension. When a disturbed spectator began dancing like a marionette in the interval, the atmosphere approached bedlam and the narrative seemed to inhabit the whole building. I doubt I will see a more original version of the play.

Lewes, a town so well served for opera, now has a dynamic repertory company which will be performing a piece every two months. Chekhov’s The Bear is to be staged later this year.

‘Rasputin is a highly imaginative piece of theatrical storytelling from the collaboration of Fusion & Kaboodle…..energy  style & strong physical performances form the basis of the production packed with incident & invention’  

  ‘Berkoff’s play as directed by Fusion’s Rikki Tarascas is fabulous…....a strong intellectual piece performed with intelligence & marvellous lucidity.’ 

 ‘Behind the closely gathered mayhem is a script verbose at times but generally lyth. Releasing it is a superlative cast ! This is alternative theatre near to a conceivable peak.’