HAROLD Pinter has been hailed as one of our greatest post-war playwrights and one of the works that helped cement his reputation comes to Weymouth this week.

The Caretaker is a darkly funny but deeply un-nerving play where two brothers and a tramp fight and manoeuvre in a territorial power struggle.

None of the characters can be trusted to tell you the truth, and the three men appear to delude themselves even as they attempt to manipulate each other.

The play is being tackled by members of Weymouth Drama Club, directed by Maggie Shaw.

The cast is made up of Andy Neve as Aston, the man who offers the tramp hospitality, Chris Walker as the tramp Davies and Bob Mears as Mick, Aston’s younger and unpredictable brother.

Maggie said: “It is funny but powerful at the same time and it is not until you start to do it that you appreciate what an important play it is.

“It is also really challenging to direct. It took me four years to persuade the club to do it because we haven’t done Pinter before.

“People kept me from it because it is dark, but there are also some really comic bits in it.

“I kept coming back to it and in the end the club gave in and said ‘ok then’.”

She added that The Caretaker is well-suited to the club’s Warehouse Theatre, which is a small and intimate venue and allows the audience to feel they really are a part of the action unfolding on-stage.

Maggie is also ‘very excited’ about her cast who she says knocked her out during the original auditions and read-through and really ‘get’ the parts they are playing.

“They are challenging parts for these guys to take on, but they are loving it and all three are superb,” she said.

The Caretaker is at the Warehouse Theatre in Hope Street, Weymouth from tomorrow until Saturday, with performances at 7.30pm. Tickets are available from the box office on 01305 750050.