The Caretaker By Harold Pinter
Welcome
Welcome
Welcome to this performance of The Caretaker. This is a notable production for several reasons. Firstly, it marks Justin’s own directorial debut as Artistic Director of CFT during a Festival season. Secondly, it’s only the second full-length play by Harold Pinter to have been produced at Chichester: a remarkable fact, given his extraordinary contribution to, and influence on, 20th century drama. (The first – bonus point if you knew it instantly! – was The Hothouse in 1995, in which Pinter himself appeared.) In addition, The Caretaker brings the great Ian McDiarmid back to our stages after an interval of 15 years. We are delighted that he has returned to play Davies, alongside Adam Gillen (as Aston) and Jack Riddiford (as Mick), both of whom are making their Chichester debuts. So why has Justin chosen this play for his debut production? ‘When programming the Festival season, I wanted to celebrate the two different spaces at CFT in a meaningful way. The Festival Theatre is a space for big spectacle, big ideas and public discussion where the audience should feel a part of the conversation. In the Minerva, we’re leaning into the intimacy, claustrophobia and tension of the space. It should feel like you’re in a room you’re not supposed to be in. ‘The themes of the outsider and Englishness run through the whole season. The Caretaker is about three outsiders who are brought to life in vivid three-dimensions. It’s a play that exploded the possibilities of what, and who, could be on the stage. These are three characters who are all from the margins of society, with complex inner lives and emotions.’ The Caretaker premiered in 1960 – coincidentally the same year that Lionel Bart’s Oliver! opened: contrasting works which both centre around lives on the fringes of English society, created by writers of Jewish heritage from the East End of London. It’s unexpected serendipities like this which help make a Festival season so stimulating. We hope that you’ll enjoy this performance and to see you again soon.
Justin Audibert Artistic Director
Kathy Bourne Executive Director
Kathy Bourne and Justin Audibert Photograph by Peter Flude
Consider yourself one of us!
Oliver! Festival Theatre 8 July – 7 September What would a Festival season be without a magnificent musical as its centrepiece? Matthew Bourne, who’s internationally renowned for his ground-breaking reinventions of dance classics such as Swan Lake and Edward Scissorhands, as well as his Olivier Award-winning choreography for My Fair Lady and Mary Poppins, is making his Chichester debut as both director and choreographer of Lionel Bart’s unforgettable Oliver! We’re once again collaborating with producer extraordinaire Cameron Mackintosh, with whom we last worked on Half a Sixpence, who has a six decade-long love of this iconic musical, and longstanding friendships and collaborations with both Lionel Bart and Matthew Bourne. He and Matthew have been inspired to go back to the more intimate ensemble roots of the original production and create a brand new reimagining of Bart’s masterpiece. Cameron tells us: ‘I was taken to see Oliver! for the first time as a 13-year-old schoolboy, shortly after it opened in June 1960; Lionel’s glorious songs blew me away and the show changed the British musical for ever.
‘We very much hope that audiences will be coming back for more all over again!’
To promise nearly fifty million people truly universal health care – ‘cradle to the grave’ – is crackers.
The Promise Minerva Theatre 19 July – 17 August Following The Caretaker into the Minerva Theatre is our third world premiere of the season: Paul Unwin’s new play The Promise. The NHS is never far from the headlines so, in an election year, it’s worth remembering that we haven’t always been lucky enough to have it. Directed by Jonathan Kent, The Promise evokes the dramatic political struggle to establish this revolutionary service. CFT Artistic Director Justin Audibert says: ‘Set in post-war Britain, the play features many of the true titans of the Labour movement, from Ernest Bevin and Aneurin Bevan, to Stafford Cripps, Clement Atlee and Herbert Morrison. But it really centres around Ellen Wilkinson, who was a radical outsider (chiming with one of the themes of this season) and how she galvanised that Cabinet, alongside Nye Bevan, to create something so hopeful.
‘You’ll feel like a fly on the wall, watching these brilliant personalities as their emotional lives get tangled up in arguments and compromises to create this integral part of our society.’
Technically Speaking With every show, the spotlight falls inevitably on the performers on stage. But have you ever wondered who is operating the lighting and sound effects; who sewed the costumes, sourced the props and made sure all the elements came together as a seamless whole? Running alongside Chichester Festival Youth Theatre groups focusing on drama, dance and musical theatre, the Technical Youth Theatre offers a chance to explore all the practical, technical and creative elements that go into putting on productions. It’s led by Sally Garner-Gibbons, CFT’s Apprenticeship Co-ordinator. ‘I’ve been working with the Youth Theatre since 1998, and we always had a little army of backstage cadets – in fact Graham Taylor, now CFT’s
Head of Lighting, was one of those people,’ says Sally. ‘We try to give everyone a taste of the minutiae of what it means to work backstage. We do a lot of making and designing – prop and costume making, masks and puppetry. We look at lighting and sound, and stage management techniques such as scale measuring and how to cue a sequence. We have visiting lecturers and the CFT staff are incredibly generous with their time and expertise.’ The most exciting aspect for most participants is the chance to work on the CFYT productions alongside the professional technical and stage management teams. ‘Everything we’ve covered in the Youth Theatre sessions suddenly comes to life,’
Above: Sally Garner-Gibbons and Technical Youth Theatre members with lighting designer Ryan Day. Opposite: Jack Ratcliffe, a Technical Youth Theatre member.
says Sally. ‘We’ve been so fortunate with the Deputy Stage Managers [who call the actors’ and technical cues during a performance] and Assistant Stage Managers [generally responsible for all the props used on a show] because they’ve been so open to having young trainees around. As far as I’m aware, it’s the longest established Technical Youth Theatre in the country.’ The experience can open the door to career possibilities of which young people were previously unaware. ‘Often they don’t know anything about stage management when they’re young,’ Sally explains. ‘Matthew Hoy, who was one of our very early intake, came because he couldn’t find an after school club for photography; he did two sessions on stage management and realised he loved it. He’s now Deputy Company Manager on Les Misérables. Joe Jenner is an ex Tech YT Student who then studied Stage Management at GSA and has returned to CFT as our Production Manager Apprentice. ‘Georgia Dacey has since worked at the RSC and The Old Vic and is returning to CFT as ASM for this year’s Christmas show, Cinderella. Hannah Lipton was Company Stage Manager on Truth & Tails, CFT’s show for families and schools in 2023 and has been appointed ASM for The Caretaker and Hey! Christmas Tree. Henry Reeder went on to Northbrook College to study Production Arts and has just been appointed as ASM Dep for Oliver!; in 2023, he also won the John Hyland Award for his outstanding contribution to the work of CFT. Following his professional training, Sammy Lacey has just finished a UK tour of The Full Monty as ASM.’ But whether or not you decide to make theatre your career, Sally is clear that any young person will get a lot out of the experience. ‘The wonderful thing about the Tech Youth Theatre is that it becomes a skillssharing opportunity. I see the progression in all the participants: having done two Christmas or Summer shows, the young people then mentor the new intake.
And because people tend to join with people they’ve never met before, they have to forge relationships outside their tight little school group. It builds their confidence and communication skills. ‘I try really hard to ignite the flame that I had ignited in me, all those years ago, about how wonderful it is to be backstage. Theatre is not just about what happens on stage or front of house, it’s about all the magic that we make happen.’
Technical Youth Theatre sessions run one evening a week during term-time at CFT. Anyone in Year 10+ can apply; no experience is necessary. For more information please email cfyt@cft.org.uk; the next intake for members will be September 2024. With thanks to Liz Juniper for supporting the Technical Youth Theatre and all of our LEAP supporters
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The Caretaker By Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter Photo by Martin Rosenbaum
A pause on the stairs No doubt about it: The Caretaker was the play that dramatically changed the life of Harold Pinter. After the dismal failure of The Birthday Party, it was a rip-roaring success: opening at the Arts Theatre in April 1960, it moved into the West End and ran for 444 performances. It earned Pinter his first real money, enabling him to buy a home in Brighton for his ageing parents.
A play that has acquired mythic status had seemingly mundane origins.
The play itself was picked up by every major European theatre and has since been produced all over the world. Bookshelves groan with the amount of critical commentary it has yielded. Yet a play that has acquired mythic status had seemingly mundane origins. I discovered this when I wrote a biography of Pinter 30 years ago and, for the first time, he revealed how the play came into being. He and his first wife, Vivien Merchant, were living in a modest two-room flat in the Chiswick High Road. ‘There was a chap’ said Pinter, ‘who owned the house: a builder in fact, like Mick, who had his own van and whom I hardly ever saw… His brother lived in the house. He was a handyman… He managed rather more successfully than Aston, but he was very introverted, very secretive and had had some kind of electric shock treatment... Anyway, he did bring a tramp back one night. I call him a tramp, but he was just a homeless old man who stayed three or four weeks... I never invited him in for a cup of tea but I occasionally got glimpses of him in the other fellow’s room... The image that stayed with me for a long time was of the open door in this room with the two men standing in different parts of the room doing different things... The tramp rooting around in a bag and the other man looking out of the window and simply not speaking...