Theatre Review of Two.
Justin Moorhouse and Victoria Elliott play the landlord and landlady of a northern pub in Jim Cartwright’s play ‘Two’ at the Royal Exchange theatre in Manchester. Throughout the play they play seven characters each. From pub regulars to a forgotten child and even to an Elvis obsessive, with love and relationships, being one of two, a continuous theme throughout the evening.
The idea is the most private of secrets and personal of problems are exposed within the confines of the traditional English pub. People change drastically all by the effect of booze. The play is on the subject of pub cultures and relationships. With relationships it explores; Faithfulness; Domestic Violence; Old Age; and Death. My initial response to this piece was, it is an interesting story and I enjoyed it. It seemed to be centered on different stages of relationships. The background message seemed to be that trust is the key in all good relationships. The scene that showed a changed relationship was the Roy and Lesley scene. My first impression of their relationship was that perhaps it had started well but had then led to domestic violence, rather then there being love from the start. Mr & Mrs Iger ultimately prove their dependence on each other during their scene which shows the theme ‘love and faithfulness’. The main characters, the Landlord and Landlady, he the hands on cashier, bar manager and she’s the gossipy heart of the bar. Their mood ultimately changes later on during when a young boy enters the pub in search of his missing dad and they are forced to face the loss of their child years before. This shows the theme of ‘death’ and ‘loss’. Although their relationship is a fairly good one throughout most of the play. Fred and Alice, a loveable couple, grateful of their lot in life and protective of each other, show the theme, ‘love’ and ‘affection’. An Old Lady who wonders, after rewarding herself after another day of caring for her invalid husband then there’s a quiet Old Man who has his dead wife’s spirit with him at all times. This shows the theme, ‘loss’ and ‘old age’. We see a failing Romeo, named Moth and how his pathetic attempts with the women backfires leaving his girlfriend, Maude, suddenly holding all the cards. There was a range of different and themes during this performance.
