THE much anticipated return of Everyman old boy Jonathan Pryce to the theatre where he began his career started quietly, with a solitary figure seeming to dissolve into the back of the stage.

This ambiguous opening set the tone for the new production of Harold Pinter’s masterpiece of contradictions and shifting characterisation.

Pryce seems to embody Davies, with what seems like subconscious body language but must have taken an age to perfect.

And there’s not a wasted opportunity – he works every gesture and backward glance to its full potential.

At one point, when Mick returns the bag he has stolen from him, Davies looks at him with a blend of resentment and gratitude that is so intense it feels voyeuristic to witness.

But although the Hollywood actor is the production’s major draw, his fellow cast members were not just supporting roles to the star attraction.

Tom Brooke moves chameleon-like between the different versions of his character Mick – taunting then teasing, gentle then vicious, and all the time slippery so that you can’t tell if he is mocking or deadly serious.

Peter McDonald as the largely silent brother Aston says little yet his pauses speak volumes and are a tribute to his acting ability.

The set, a single attic room, is filled with the many props Pinter specified in his script.

The piles of bric-a-brac are as intriguing as the characters they surround, and it’s tempting to root through them for curiosities.

The Caretaker is attentively directed by Christopher Morahan, with silences loaded with as least as much meaning as the dialogue.

The humour succeeds because the comedic lines are spoken in earnest, as if the actors are unaware they are funny.

But funny they are, and tragic too.

A remarkable performance that lives to up to the high expectations surrounding Pryce’s return.

The only question left is – which former Everyman actor will it be next?