The Caretaker By Pinter: A Play Can Be Confrontational, Challenging And Disturbing To The Values And Assumptions Of An Audience. Discuss With Close

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and what they are
going to gain from the theatrical experience. The traditional attitudes towards
theatre and the conventions of realist drama are disrupted by Pinter. This
confronts the assumptions and values of the audience, an experience which would
be disconcerting and frightening to many.

Pinter divorces and exposes society's codes, institutions and human relations.
Throughout the play the audience is rarely comfortable. This disruption is
established from the outset of the play when Mick, a character who at this stage
of the play the audience knows nothing about, sits on the bed and stares at the
audience in silence for ‘30 seconds'. Traditionally in realist drama such as
Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler characters use simple exposition through language
and non-verbal elements to ‘let the audience in' and enlighten them on what is
happening on the stage and the results and reasons for and behind actions.
Pinter disrupts this tradition and this in itself would have been a ...

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that as he was introduced first, he is in a
position of power. The opening scene defamiliarises the Audience with
traditional notions of power and establishes a precedent for the remainder of
the play.

Pinter does not adhere to the accepted use of dramatic conventions. There is no
traditional relation of character histories within the opening scenes and lack
of revelation is maintained throughout the play as relatively little is exposed
about the characters backgrounds. This makes events within the room conditional
phenomena, which are dependent on the individuals involved and what the audience
is able to interpret.

Pinter denies meaning in traditional places of discovery and ...

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