'Two' - A real winner for the Garrick!
| Published: 30th April 2008 18:15 |
Written By Jill Alldritt
The fifth Garrick Rep season opened on a real high with an excellent production of Jim Cartwright's hard hitting comedy, Two. Produced by Tom Roberts and directed by Alasdair Harvey, the play, set in a northern pub, leant itself well to the intimacy of The Garrick's small studio. Here the audience were effectively some of the customers and voyeurs of the coming and goings of the pub's varied clientele and their lives.
The play is a two man show with the leads, Mark Jardine and Janet Bamford, taking on not just the main characters of landlord/lady, but also the many diverse roles of the pub's locals and regulars. Both were excellent and showed true versatility engaging the audience totally with their performances and interpretations of characters.
The significance of the title soon becomes apparent as the regulars' stories slowly unfold. The warring publicans pride themselves on having a place for couples: meeting, courting, unwinding and sharing moments of their often humdrum lives. We see the sadness of an elderly widower as he copes with his loss and yet still feels the bond and love of those many shared years. Mark Jardine moved effortlessly from this character to a middle aged lothario who will not commit to his long suffering fiancée and continues to chat up the ladies. His disco dancing had the audience in stitches! Similarly, Janet Bamford's portrayal of his fiancé, Maudie was strong and engaging.
The change of character was marked through costume, lighting and often cleverly placed background music. The director was not afraid to use silence to add to the tension of a moment and the two leads worked well with this. Each character brought a new emotion. The pairs' portrayal of bullying Roy and his downtrodden wife, Leslie, was both moving and shocking. There was also enormous fun with characters such as Fred and Alice, The Other Woman and Mr and Mrs Iger. The contrasts between scenes were marked as a whole spectrum of types of relationship was unveiled. Eventually the landlord and lady's own issues and relationship come under scrutiny and they reveal great sadness and loss in their own lives. The roles of host and hostess serve as a façade for their unhappiness.
The production was strong and thoroughly entertaining. It was good to see The Studio so full. If The Garrick maintains this standard with the forthcoming Shirley Valentine they can be rightly proud.
To book tickets contact the box office on: 01543 412121 or book online: http://www.lichfieldgarrick.com/
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