Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Thursday 5th July 2018.
Tony Knight Productions (Tony Knight) and Leading Line Productions
(Stefanie Rossi and Marc Clement)
worked together recently to present
Gardner McKay's play, Toyer, and they have now joined forces to become STARC Productions. They are now presenting
Two, by
Jim Cartwright, directed by Knight, a play set in a pub in the north of England in the 1980s in which Rossi and Clement play the constantly bickering landlord and his wife, as well as all of the other characters who frequent the establishment, fourteen in all.
Cartwright was born in Lancashire in 1958 and grew up in a working-class area during Thatcher's era, when mining and manufacturing industries in the north of England were being closed down under her austerity measures This play, written in 1989, reflected his own experiences and drew on people whom he saw around him.
In any pub, you are likely to find a wide range of people, a microcosm of society at large. On a busy night, between the opening and closing times, Cartwright pulls a few stereotypical patrons out of the crowd and gives us brief moments with each of them, a glimpse of their lives and circumstances.
Marc Clement plays seven of the characters: Landlord, Moth, Old Man, Mr Iger, Roy, Fred, and Little Boy, while Stefanie Rossi plays the other seven: Landlady, Old Woman, Maudie, Mrs Iger, Lesley, Alice, and Woman. The Landlord and Landlady are the central characters and, of course, they are around right throughout the play.
The Old Woman is in a loveless marriage with an ailing husband, who permits her to drop down to the pub for one drink at exactly the same time each night. Moth is neither young nor attractive, but he still fancies his chances with the ladies, undeterred by his consistent failure to interest any woman in the pub. His girlfriend, Maudie, puts up with it, even when he is flirting right in front of her. The Old Man is lost in his memories of his late wife. It seems that it is all that he has left.
Mr. Iger is small and weedy and cannot get the attention of the landlord in order to buy drinks, while Mrs. Iger goads him on, and lusts after 'big' men. Lesley is under the thumb of the abusive, Roy in a violent, sadomasochistic relationship. Fred and Alice are morbidly obese Elvis fans, and share a simple sort of love, coming to the pub to watch the TV and munch on packets of potato crisps, without buying drinks.
The Woman is tired of being 'the other woman' and is there to confront her lover and his wife, but cannot bring herself to do so. Smelly Jimmy is not seen and he says nothing aloud, but he whispers to the landlord and landlady, gaining an angry reaction. The Landlord and Landlady speak harshly to this unseen and unheard character. We discover why a bit later, after they close the pub. The Little Boy has lost his father who has left for home, forgetting that he had left his son outside to wait for him, and the boy's tearful plight is a catalyst for a change in the publicans' relationship.
Both performers have had great expectations placed upon them by the playwright. They are not only expected to play seven characters of wide age range and physical attributes, but they must go from broad comedy, through poignant sections, to strong drama, and to an emotional peak in the closing scene. Audiences might want to keep the handkerchiefs handy for that bit.
The simple set has a few chairs, which the two performers move as required, and large screens on either side at the rear of the stage where they go to change costumes, the script arranged so that one is onstage while the other is changing such that audiences are almost unaware of the transitions. Stephen Dean's lighting design helps with that, as well as focussing attention on the action.
In the end, though, it all comes down to the performances, the duologues and monologues, often delivered directly to the audience, who effectively become other drinkers in the pub to whom the characters are talking. It is a very intimate production, ideally suited to the equally intimate Bakehouse Theatre.
Knight has constructed a sleek and infinitely varied production, with each character well developed and brought to life by Rossi and Clement. Their performances in their multiple roles are impressive, with quite a decent job of numerous regional accents on top of the myriad characterisations. Both have great comic timing and, as we have seen in the past, skill in creating complex and believable characters. That final scene, though, is extremely moving, a powerful ending to a night out in a northern pub. Be sure to see this production.
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