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Harold Pinter’s “L’encarregat” (The Caretaker), in the Teatre Lliure, Montjuïc

Xicu Masó directs the play, an absurdist comedy-thriller dealing with subjects such as misery and human dignity

Beginning on the 20th of February, the Teatre Lliure in Montjuïc will host Harold Pinter’s L'encarregat (The Caretaker), a play which was first performed in the Arts Theatre in London in 1960 and which helped open the doors to success for the English playwright, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005.

Translated from the English by Ernest Riera i Arbussà and directed by Xicu Masó, L'encarregat combines clown-style, or physical comedy with the uncertainty of a thriller. The plot begins when Anton offers a homeless man, Danius, a bed for the night. The following day, Anton’s brother Miki appears, and when Anton suggests that Danius take on the role of caretaker of the flat, Danius begins to destabilise the lives of the two brothers in order to continue protecting himself from the outside world.

Starring Carles Martínez, Albert Pérez and Marc Rodríguez, the play treats absurd situations of commonplace terror with irony and lucidity, with the three characters oscillating between comicality and real danger in an atmosphere typical of the playwright’s work, though the adaptation in question transfers the original setting to a more contemporary context.

The play can be seen in the Teatre Lliure up until the 16th of March.

Publication date: Thursday, 20 February 2014
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