If legendary playwright Harold Pinter were alive, he might describe "The Caretaker" this way: "It's about a bum and two brothers."

"That's what he would've said, so I'm not saying anymore," director John Vreeke joked.

Salt Lake Acting Company's season opener is, of course, about more than the obvious featured trio. "It's musical," Vreeke said. "It's vague. It's mysterious. It's full of tension. It's full of psychology."

The contemporary classic play, which first opened in 1960 at London's Arts Theatre, is being produced in memory of Pinter, who died in December 2008. "Pinter is an exacting genius [as a] writer," the director said. "I don't think there are many of those. He is like Shakespeare, where every single word is placed very carefully. Every punctuation and pause is very exact."

After 50 years, the play's universal human theme still resonates. What theatergoers think of its themes -- "about how we take care of each other and how we don't take care of each other," as Vreeke summarized -- will depend on their experience.

The play's "emotional roller coaster" of a plot involves a transient, Davies (Joe Cronin), and brothers Aston (Daniel Beecher) and Mick (Matthew Ivan Bennett), and what results when the three engage in complex power games in a dilapidated west London apartment.

Local actor Gene Pack, 78, was originally cast to play Davies, but the part proved to be too demanding, and so Oregon-based actor Joe Cronin (who played Ken Carpenter in SLAC's 2005 production of "The Man From Nebraska") took over the role two weeks into rehearsals.

Vreeke compares the character to Hamlet, because of his tendency to give speeches. "He is a jabberer," the director said." He doesn't shut up."

Looking the part with an unshaven beard and messy hair, Cronin said he hasn't worked as hard since he was part of a landscaping crew at a U.S. Air Force base chopping down trees. "It's been a lot of heavy lifting, learning lines, of course, because it's a huge role," he said.

But reading the play, Cronin found relief in realizing the role was a combination of characters he knew. "I knew who he was and how he talked," Cronin said.

As Aston, the brother, Daniel Beecher is playing his second role at SLAC, while its a first for Bennett, known as Plan-B Theatre Company's resident playwright.

Bennett, a self-described introvert who has performed at the Utah Shakespearean Festival and on the company's education tours, said acting helps his writing because it revivifies the way he thinks about character.

"We have three really smart actors who understand how to work," Vreeke said, "the challenges and beauty of Pinter's language, and are particular suited for their characters."