HE bursts on to the stage; a voluble, malodorous mound of rags, bristling with indignation at the indignity that he has suffered.
The down-and-out Davies (Sir Michael Gambon), like his clothing, has seen better days.
Harold Pinter's modern classic, The Caretaker, grips the stage of the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford, until November 4.
The set is so authentically slum-like you want to scratch. Peeling wallpaper clings to damp walls, a bucket catches the drips from the leaking roof and the room is filled with the kind of clutter even Albert Steptoe would have rejected.
Railing against the world full of foreigners, ungraciously accepting shelter from his rescuer Aston (Douglas Hodge), Davies is a stranger in his own times.
His arrival in the squalid bedroom of a rundown London house is the catalyst that sets brother against brother.
Menacing Davies' new-found semi-security is the volatile Mick, a bravura performance from Rupert Graves.
Builder and interior decorator manqué, Mick's grandiose plans leave audience and senses reeling.
Pinter cannily, slowly, subtly reveals the real men with sharp insight and humour.
Gambon's hunched, shuffling Davies is rivetting. He has captured the chameleon-like essence of the street-dweller who inhabits a world where past and present are equally challenging.
His long and pernickity search for sturdy footwear is wonderfully and joyfully played.
Douglas Hodge gives the hesitant, patient Aston an engaging quality which makes his revelations of personal anguish eminently moving.
A stunning production with an intensely physical performance from Gambon, it should set the West End abuzz.
Patrick Marber's direction and a fine cast have made this Caretaker unmissable.
Sandy Baker