The Caretaker | Ensemble Theatre

Image by Prudence Upton

This review comes from Night Writes guest reviewer Jack Mitchell

“What’s the game, then?”

The thuggish Mick asks the homeless layabout Davies this question at the end of Act 1 of Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker. Davies doesn’t know how to respond and it is almost as though Pinter is probing the audience with the same question. What’s the point of it all? Sitting within the absurdist theatre style, the play questions our assumptions about the fundamental aspects of live theatre. The plot is sparse, the characters speak over and around each other, and the language is cyclical and repetitive. Under Iain Sinclair’s direction, this is a claustrophobic and intriguing production.

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Degenerate Art | Red Line Productions

OLDFITZ Degenerate Art 013

Image by John Marmaras

The 2016 election of Donald Trump was a rude global awakening that the West had quickly forgotten what Fascism looks and sounds like. In the two years since, still, little has been done to address the insidious ways dangerous ideas and attitudes infect policy and perspective on all shores, including our own. Rich white men (and women) continue to cut funding to necessary sectors like health and public schools, detention centres are active and normal, and, yes, Australia is still racist. That’s why we’re seeing Nazis on stage with more frequency and more urgency; as reminders.

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