Brian Meegan and Kate Raison in Two. Photo by Clare Hawley.
With the atmosphere well and truly evoked by the 80s pub rock on the pre-show track, the grimy copper backed mirror and haphazard bottles atop the bar – plus the must be sticky carpet – the husband and wife landlords of this down at heel enterprise arrive with evident distaste in each other’s confined company behind the beer taps.
It’s a busy opening as the scene is set by very accessible miming of drink dispensing and a crackling dislike of each other, interspersed with a grimaced ‘hail fellow’ to the patrons. There is an immediacy of audience engagement which never wavers as these two become several.
It’s an acting tour-de-force from Brian Meegan and Kate Raison as they take on the 14 characters who pull up a stool to share, both as monologues and duologues, a little of their lives and why this is the place they choose to be this night. With accomplished performances that seamlessly bring new characters to the stage, the realisation of each person is of a remarkable depth which is subtly achieved after an instant hit of recognisability. The skill it takes to engage with the front rows in personal way that Meegan does is part of the thrill of the show as is Raison’s inhabiting work in gently eliciting empathy for a virtually silent woman.
Director Mark Kilmurry guides his cast equally effortlessly through the comedy and the pathos that make up Jim Cartwright’s text. Highly entertaining, both emotional and funny, the play resolves little. Yet, it has a ringing audience response that resonates beyond the 90 minutes. Set firmly in 1989, now in a NSW regional pub rather than English North, it is a relief that much has changed but the lingering worry that some of these attitudes stubbornly survive gives an audience a bitter aftertaste. The immersion in their lives is total from the hyper-drama of the other woman to the sadness of child impediment to an alcoholic father.
Brian Meegan and Kate Raison in Two. Photo by Clare Hawley.
Aided by a costume, hair, shoe and handbag design imposed on a beige palette, each new person is knowable on entry. Put a gold chain on a man in a garish unbuttoned shirt and you have sleaze conjured. Stylishly faded denim vest with pretty buttons over a broderie anglaise blouse collide class and aspiration in a desperate older woman. The lighting design which plays up the greenish cast of the obligatory mould coloured tiles and dodgy spider plant has a plot which truncates the space when needed for focus on Kilmurry’s effectively directed moments of stillness and intimacy. It also opens out the area for the active glass collection movement scenes. Also unobtrusive are the audio effects which give a distant hub-bub and nearer, almost eavesdropable conversations in among the really enjoyable music.
It may be that the pub atmosphere is rather too well achieved, one of the audience threatened to go down from the seats and “deck” one of the characters and there was chatter and interaction all around.
One might not choose to plonk down next to these 14 but when we do the result is lively, moving and ultimately poetically wistful.
Ratings: 4 ½ stars ★★★★☆
Two
By Jim Cartwright
National tour from Ensemble Theatre
Cast: Brian Meegan, Kate Raison
Director: Mark Kilmurry
Set and Costume Design: vAlicia Clements
Lighting Design: vMatthew Marshall
Sound Design: Neil McLean
5-7 March 2019
Riverside Theatres, Parramatta
