| Performance details | Venue: York Theatre Royal Dates: 26 May - 17 Jun 2006 Tickets: £9.00-£10.00 Box office: 01904 623568 |
First staged in 1989, Two has been in production all over the world ever since. It principally tells the story of the landlord and landlady of a pub, and of the experiences of many of their regulars and of their newer customers. Two is written by Bolton’s Jim Cartwright, who has previously penned Road, as well as 1992’s The Rise and Fall of Little Voice (which became the film Little Voice, starring Brenda Blethyn and Ewan MacGregor). His plays have been translated in to 20 languages.
There are only two actors in the play itself, Eamonn Fleming (the landlord of the pub) and Gilly Tompkins (the landlady). Fleming and Tompkins also play the customers, who are a varied and fascinating bunch – among them an old man who still talks to his dead wife, a mistress, a child who has lost his father, and an old woman who has come in for a drink to get away from her incontinent husband. I was a little concerned when I sat down to watch Two that only having two actors playing so many roles would make some of the scenes confusing, but I was proven wrong. Two is a genuinely magnificent play. We see how people treat one another in a variety of interesting and worrying ways. We see unfaithfulness, bullying, despair and love at its finest and most comic – and a lot more besides. The stories are by turns heartwarming, frightening, passionate and painful. They illustrate the way that people behave in different situations, but in the background there is a fascinating story that all of the drinkers’ tales relate to. | "I was a little concerned that only having two actors playing so many roles would make some of the scenes confusing, but I was wrong" | |
The many and varied parts Tompkins and Fleming played I could understand and associate with (I’ve spent a lot of nights in the pub listening to similar tales!). The main story of the landlord and landlady was illustrated very cleverly and came to a painful, sad but rewarding conclusion. I won’t give away any more details of the story – the play is exceptional, and I recommend that you see it whenever and wherever possible. The audience gave Fleming and Tompkins a richly-deserved standing ovation, although a lot of the credit should also go to the director, the writer, the musical director and all of the other people involved in the production. Two is playing at the York Theatre Royal until 17th June, and is a round not to be missed. Robin Lewis | 
