Two

Author:: Jim Cartwright
Venue:: St James Cavalier
Dates:: 21, 22, 23, 28, 29, 30 April 2006
Extra:: 05, 06, 07 May 2006
Cast:: Edward Mercieca, Pia Zammit

Summary:

“Laughter,love,lamentations and lager…” Set in a northern pub owned by a savagely bickering husband and wife, TWO is a series of short vignettes that skilfully combines pathos and humour, with all fourteen characters played by just two actors who drag us through the whole gamut of emotions. These amazing parts should leave the performers breathless and the audience stunned, silent and scratching their heads wondering how it was all done.

During the course of the evening in this pub, assorted customers pass in and out; including the hilarious Alice and Fred who've “never been the same since Elvis died” and the abusive husband and his terrified partner whose power struggle is one of the most emotionally charged scenes. Towards the end, a little boy is left behind by his father—an event which triggers a movement towards a fragile reconciliation between the pub couple, as their own dark tragedy is revealed. All these characters are linked by the bar, but also by their battle with love and their conflicts between public facade and private emotion. This is a hilarious and moving play and is guaranteed to touch a nerve. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you have a pint!

What the press said:

Best Perfrormances in 2005/6: Edward Mercieca in TWO, Pia Zammit in TWO Showtime, 02/06/06

In Unifaun's production the actors were Pia Zammit and Edward Mercieca and both were absolutely outstanding. Showtime, 02/06/06

After two weekends of full-houses at the theatre-in-the-round at the St James Centre for Creativity, Unifaun's production of Jim Cartwright's dazzling play Two is to play for yet another three performances this weekend at St James... by popular demand. —Showtime, The Times, 5-5-06

The incredibly sharp and truthful writing, coupled with two exceptional performances by Pia Zammit and Edward Mercieca have combined to make Two a must-see production. —Showtime, The Times, 5-5-06

In this multi-tiered, multi-character piece, all the parts are played by Pia and Edward, who change characters and costumes in the twinkling of an eye. The script is often very funny and always extremely profound. Two is in fact in danger of throwing up two of the finest performances of the current theatre season. Its playwright Jim Cartwright attended the first night and was both totally sincere and unstinting in his praise for both performers. —Showtime, The Times, 5-5-06

This is one to savour, so if you haven't caught it yet make sure you get a seat for this weekend. Two will be performed tonight, tomorrow and Sunday, May 5 to 7 at 7, p.m. —Showtime, The Times, 5-5-06

In Jim Cartwright’s TWO, Unifaun have found a play that provides good entertainment, an excellent vehicle for a couple of actors, and an environment that is not the much too familiar one of the middle class problems and aspirations. —Paul Xuereb, The Sunday Times, 7-5-06

With a few sound effects, and gutsy performances by Edward mercieca and Pia Zammit as the pub owners (and the rest, of course) Jon Rosser creates the pub atmosphere realistically, but that is just the starting point. —Paul Xuereb, The Sunday Times, 7-5-06

More importantly, he makes the little dramas of the pub owners and their patrons come vividly to life. In one of the sketches that make up the play, the sickeningly flirtatious and chronically unfaithful man waiting for his girl, conducts a flirtation with a woman in the audience, thus helping to break down still farther the wall between actors and audience. —Paul Xuereb, The Sunday Times, 7-5-06

Both Zammit and Mercieca have come up with a range of characters that are always clearly distinguished from one another, never less than good, and sometimes brilliant. —Paul Xuereb, The Sunday Times, 7-5-06

Both Mercieca and Zammit are very good at modulating in a second from their hearty addresses to patrons to their never-ending private duel. —Paul Xuereb, The Sunday Times, 7-5-06

I enjoyed Mercieca’s listing of a very long order just made by the members of a stag party. It had the lucidity and confidence of a professional in catering. —Paul Xuereb, The Sunday Times, 7-5-06

Of his other parts, his faithless young man in the baseball cap (worn with the peak over the nape, of course) is as funny as he is despicable, expecting his much suffering girl-friend (Zammit in intense mood with one great explosion) to pay for all his drinks. —Paul Xuereb, The Sunday Times, 7-5-06

Zammit’s pub owner’s wife provides a strong adversary for Mercieca’s husband, her bitterness seeping through every so often, her smiling addresses to customers clearly a relief from the constant bickering with her spouse. —Paul Xuereb, The Sunday Times, 7-5-06

Her defiant drinking and angry breaking of glasses and bottles in the play’s dark close are not melodramatic, but the expression of a suffering that is incessant, and her avoidance of her husband’s attempted embrace is chilling. —Paul Xuereb, The Sunday Times, 7-5-06

Of her other parts, I enjoyed most her hard woman with an inflamed sexual imagination for big, well-endowed men and a contempt for her weak husband. —Paul Xuereb, The Sunday Times, 7-5-06

In her scene with Mercieca’s faithless, flirtatious young man, Zammit makes us sense her building up internal tension until her indignation erupts. —Paul Xuereb, The Sunday Times, 7-5-06

The two actors can rightly regard their performances in TWO as being among their memorable ones. If you have not seen the play already, try to see if there is an empty seat tonight. —Paul Xuereb, The Sunday Times, 7-5-06