Review | The Caretaker at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester: Star Wars' Ian McDiarmid 'delivers an acting masterclass'

Set in a dilapidated London flat, the quiet but kind-hearted Aston brings home Davies, a tramp who he saved from a fight, offering him a place to stay until he gets back on his feet.

Initially he is tormented by Aston’s brother and landlord - the volatile Mick.

But as the weeks pass, the vagrant latches on to the latter as tempers fray between him and his unwitting roommate.

Tony and Olivier award-winner Ian McDiarmid – better known to many as Emperor Palpatine in the Star Wars franchise – delivers an acting masterclass as Davies.

He captures perfectly the mercurial mutterings and mood swings of the elderly character, one moment begging for money, the next spouting racist bile against the neighbours and then castigating Aston for not closing the flat window.

But he is equally matched by the younger pair; Jack Riddiford’s Mick is full of both simmering menace and boiling humour, and Olivier nominee Adam Gillen (of Benidorm fame) delivers the knockout moment of the entire play.

Up until this point a fairly monosyllabic character, his rendering of Aston’s monologue – in which he confesses to having had electric shock therapy in a mental hospital – is mesmerisingly heartbreaking.

I couldn’t take my eyes off him.

Together, the way the power dynamics ebb and flow between the trio is like a dance - and it was a pleasure to watch, expertly executed.

Until July 13.

JAMES BUTLER