The Caretaker

The Caretaker Summary | Act 1 Summary

The setting for this play is a single room cluttered by junk. The mess includes paint buckets, boxes, vases, a kitchen sink, and a gas stove that doesn't work, with the statue of the Buddha on top of it. A bucket hangs from the ceiling to catch drips when it rains. The room also has two beds. The house is being renovated and is unoccupied except for this room.

Aston, a man in his early thirties, lives here. He brings home an old tramp, Davies, who has been fired from a job he held for only a week. Davies was thrown out, because he refused to do the work required of him. He felt that he wasn't being treated in the way he deserved, which seems to be the story of his life. He never gets the respect he feels he deserves. Aston intervened between him and the employer, who was ready to hit Davies, and brought him to this cluttered room. Davies is very sensitive to the possibility that Blacks live next door.

Davies complains that he has left a bag of his belongings at the restaurant and that he needs a pair of shoes. He says that he went to a monastery to try to get a donation; but instead of giving him shoes, they gave him a meal and chased him off. Aston has a pair under his bed that he offers, but Davies complains that they don't fit. Aston promises to try to find him another pair.

Davies needs to get to Sidcup to get his papers. He says that his real name is Jenkins; Davies is an assumed name. He says he can't get his insurance card stamped, because he doesn't have his papers with his real name on them. There is some indication, later in the story, that he might have stolen the insurance card. Davies says that he has several.

Aston offers to let Davies sleep in the second bed, until he is able to make it on his own, and gives him some money. They clear away the accumulated furniture and junk, so Davies can get to the bed. In the morning, Aston asks why he was making groaning and jabbering noises, but Davies insists that he doesn't do that. It must have been the Blacks next door, he says. Aston goes out, leaving Davies with a key to the room and the front door. Alone, Davies explores the contents of the room, boxes and chests. Suddenly, Aston's brother Mick, who is in his early twenties, is in the room. He forces Davies to lie on the floor, while he looks the room over.