Review: The Two Character Play

Hey readers!

It's time for my review of The Two Character Play. 

"Fellow actors, brother and sister Felice and Clare have been on tour too long: every town looks increasingly the same until they feel they could be anywhere... Abandoned by the rest of the acting company, but faced with an audience expecting a performance, they must enact The Two Character Play. But as their gripping ‘play within a play’ unfolds, the line between reality and illusion becomes increasingly unclear; as their characters reach out to the outside world, the actors’ isolation and uncertainty grows..."

I have seen numerous plays by Tennessee Williams before, and have been rather fond of all of them. In particular, I had the pleasure of seeing the revival of Summer and Smoke in 2019 and, to this very day, it remains one of the best plays I have ever seen. Unfortunately, I failed to connect with The Two Character Play in a similar way. I found it difficult to immerse myself in the writing on this occasion, and I don't feel this is the strongest play from Williams's repertoire. When compared with the skilful dialogue featured in Summer and Smoke, as well as other Tennessee Williams plays such as The Glass Menagerie, The Two Character Play struggles to be on a par. The show has a concurrent double plot with the convention of a play-within-a-play scenario, though neither aspect of the story is particularly enthralling. It was a challenge to engage with either of the stories, and the entire concept grew rather wearisome. 

This production has been directed by Sam Yates, who has made some bold, though questionable decisions with the staging. During the first portion of the play the stage is obscured by a horizontal lighting pole, intended to display that the action is taking place behind the scenes. Whilst I appreciate the purpose, this proved to be somewhat of a hinderance. It served to alienate the audience, and made it hard to engage in the first few scenes that took place. In addition to this, the stage often felt cluttered due to the extensive use of props and video effects. This arguably took away from the writing, and made it harder for the story to stand on its own merits.

The cast, on the other hand, are by far the strongest aspect of the entire production. As the title would suggest, the play is a two-hander, starring Kate O'Flynn as Clare and Zubin Varla as Felice. They were both extremely versatile, and successfully conveyed all the various aspects of their characters. The script requires a lot of range from its performers, and they rose to the occasion with ease. I was particularly impressed with the way in which they utilised different accents. Both O'Flynn and Varla had to change from British to Southern Drawl within a matter of moments at numerous points, and they did so faultlessly. They also had excellent chemistry with one another, and complimented each other's talents. 

Now for my final verdict on The Two Character Play. I give The Two Character Play...

The Two Character Play is a little too bizarre, and the staging of this particular production may be misguided. Having said that, there are two excellent performances to behold, and their portrayals are faultless.

Think it should have got a higher rating? Agree with my rating? Think it should have got a lower rating? If so comment below.

Thanks for reading!

-The Basic Theatre Reviewer