What if there’d been an episode of “Only Fools and Horses” which neglected Del and Rodney in favor of telling the stories of everyone seen in the background of The Nag’s Head?
While Jim Cartwright’s play is based many miles North of the beloved TV series, the question I pose is a relevant one – we all have (or have had) a beloved local or regular haunt; we all know the faces of the bar staff and the other regulars; but few if any of us really know the people behind those faces.
What if we did? Would we see more drama than we do on TV?
“Two” is set in a bar owned and operated by the Landlord (Gordon Bird) and Landlady (Heidi Ashton). The premise is simple: we join them on a typical evening, and spend some time with them and their regulars, before they close up for the night.
The twist is that, as per the title, there are only two actors – for Bird and Ashton also portray those very same regulars.
This is a great hook for a play, allowing 8 small sketches – each telling its own self-contained story – to play out within the pub. They range from the comic (a long past-it lothario trying his best to seduce the other patrons) to the tragic (the long-suffering wife of an abusive man) to the heartwarming (a couple who take a genuine pleasure in old Elvis Presley movies).
Of course none of those stories are apparent when we get our first look at those characters – the point of the play, so brilliantly illustrated here, is not to rely on those first impressions, but instead to take the time to get to know people. Deep down, they may entertain us; they may need our help; we may need theirs.
Bird and Ashton do a tremendous job of bringing these diverse characters to life, showcasing their range as actors and effortlessly transitioning between the different parts. Doing comedy, or serious acting, is hard enough – doing both one after another, with different accents and characterizations, is bloody impressive.
The set design and technical trappings work well for the play – this feels like a much-loved setting, the scene of everything (love, death, tragedy and comedy) that a community has to offer; the scene of many memories.
This becomes all the more fitting in light of the fact that “Two” is the last production that Woodley Theatre will ever mount – for this historic community theatre company is wrapping things up after mounting productions since 1945.
I once wrote that “other local theatres may present large-scale takes on classic plays, or edgy contemporary material, and these things all have a place on the stage – but ultimately community theatre should be for the community.”
In that instance, I was talking about “The Herd” – Woodley’s 2019 production of a play about the unpaid carers whose lives, challenges and hardships so often go unnoticed, despite the sheer number of them actually living in our community.
Like that play – and the many, many others Woodley has produced over the years – “Two” may not be flashy; it may not be a lavish period drama; it may not rival the West End. But you know what? It’s better than those alternatives. It encourages us to take a second look at the people around us, who we pass by in the street or the shops or the bar on a regular basis, but about whom we know less than we do about tabloid celebrities. And it reminds us that behind those familiar faces, there is more love, more heartache, and more of an opportunity to connect – to be a community – than we might first have suspected.
I can think of no greater praise, and no greater swansong for the theatre, than that.
“Two” runs at Woodley Theatre from the 28th November – 2nd December. Tickets are available at https://www.woodleytheatre.org.
