North Shore Times (New Zealand)
Difficult play enthrals crowd at PumpHouse
Review: A publican couple in a sparsely furnished, run-down bar serve invisible drinks to imaginary punters.
As they flirt, jest and banter with customers, they take every opportunity to stick the knife into each other, in the play, Two, showing at the lakeside PumpHouse Theatre.
The couple, played by veteran actors Paul Glover and Lisa Chappell transform into customers and back in a series of vignettes where they play 14 characters, ranging from children to elderly, fat to thin, and tall to short.
Two showcases their remarkable acting and accomplished directing by Janice Finn, who once produced 80s soap Gloss and who has a long history of acting, directing and producing shows.
The actors have to crisply change from one role to the next and do so with aplomb. Chappell, in particular, seems to change completely from young to old.
The vignettes are wonderful, including an endearing fat couple sporting loud homemade jumpers who aren’t quite able, an abuser and his girlfriend, an older man sustained by memories of his wife, a frowzy woman who delivers a poetic soliloquy on her penchant for large men, and a child left outside and forgotten by his father.
Opening night at the bricky historic PumpHouse Theatre offered a story-book moon in dark cloudy sky above the black lake.
It was this picturesque setting and the character of the small historic theatre which, in part, inspired the play’s choice, Tadpole Theatre Productions’ president Louise Wallace said.
Wallace read the play and wasn’t taken with it, but then saw it performed in a comparable harbourside Sydney venue, by Ensemble Theatre, and was convinced it was the right one for the PumpHouse production. Director Finn flew to Sydney to see the play and concurred.
Wallace believes the play is suited to people who enjoy theatre.
Esteemed actor and director Raymond Hawthorne made the point the play, by Jim Cartwright is difficult in that the central couple are hard to like.
However, feedback on opening night was everyone was spellbound from beginning to end.
❚ is on until November 5, at 7.30pm with weekend matinees. Tickets from $25 to $39. Book pumphouse.co.nz.