Two & Bed (Methuen Modern Plays) (Modern Classics)

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There is the old woman dropping in for a drink at the end of a gruelling day in which she has coped with her incontinent husband. There is the little old man who still talks to his dead wife and the conniving Scouser, Moth, who uses all means at his disposal to get inside his girlfriend’s purse. There’s Roy, the sadistic and controlling abuser of his girlfriend Lesley and most poignantly of all, there’s the lad whose dad forgot him on his way out. Linking them all are the Landlord and Landlady, constantly rowing because tonight is the anniversary of an event they cannot bear to discuss. This wonderfully observed character study of a traditional pub, its eccentric customers and its warring landlord and wife won the Manchester Evening News Best New Play award in 1989 and has been in production somewhere around the world ever since. It offers a credible view of a succession of ordinary people, seeking shelter from the miseries of their existence. It also goes someway to exploring the British love affair with the pub as the heart of a community; an escape and a refuge from everyday problems. With its rapid costume changes, multitude of roles, and sudden shifts in mood, Two is clearly a challenging script for any company. But actors Phil Malkin and Kay Sanders prove more than equal to their demanding task, turning in near-faultless individual performances and, crucially, developing a strong personal chemistry too. The delineation between their sundry characters is impeccable; at one point, I genuinely had to remind myself that the bluff landlord and his geeky put-upon customer were in fact the same man. Credit’s also due to director Rob Hiatt, for managing the practicalities of a production which is far more complex than it seems.