Punchy Pub Play Moves First Night Audience to Tears

Susan Stanley-Carroll impressed with Maverick Theatre's Two

Greg Snowden and Claire Louise Amias 'a dynamic and dextrous cast of two'

April 15, 2023

Where will you find a pub with a theatre? Where a pub, with a play being performed that is about a pub? Yes, of course, in the middle of Chiswick’s Bedford Park!

Here we find “Two” by Jim Cartwright and you can buy tickets to watch it until 29 April. Be prepared to walk into a pub bar in a theatre and to even sit in the bar, while the action revolves around you. It’s ok, as you will not be expected to participate! However, a big hint: do take a drink with you as otherwise you will be thirsty listening to the Landlord and Landlady dolling out orders for pints of bitter.

“Two”, is a classic Northern, two hander drama written in 1988. It was from the start a huge success and during the last thirty years has been regularly revived. Now The Maverick Theatre Company has brought it to Chiswick: however, it may or may not be your ‘pint of bitter’!

Two charismatic actors, Claire Louise Amias and Gregg Snowden superbly play the bickering Landlord and Landlady. Their faultless performances are outstanding: they deftly switch from one contrasting roll to another. Sometimes as a duologue and other times as a monologue.

Every so often Claire or Gregg leave their ‘pub’ and return as one of the regular customers: wee vignettes of a diverse range of people, some amusing others pathetic or deeply unhappy. For instance, the coercive controlling husband, Roy, and his cowering pregnant wife, Lesley, caused shock waves to flow from the audience, but, the old man dreaming about his beloved late wife, was an antidote to that bitter, marital incident.

The actors deftly switch between contrasting roles in Jim Cartwright's Two

Eventually the entrance of a child causes ‘Him and Her’ to confront their own shared and personal demons. Deeply moving and exquisitely played causing another emotional reaction from the audience. (Do bring your tissues).

My friend also found that sitting on the stage within the pub’s boundaries hammered home the poignancy of several dramatised scenarios particularly the above example of coercive control. (You have been warned)!

Once again Chiswick’s own Theatre at the Tabard hits another high with its dynamic and dextrous cast of two. Richard Woolnough’s seamless and innovative direction that was supported by Sandra Szaron’s smooth lighting and sound effects enacted on a set that would grace any 1980’s pub.

Well done, too, to Nick Hennegan and the Maverick Theatre Company a group that we will surely see again at the Theatre at the Tabard. Thank you Simon and Sarah Reilly for keeping theatre vibrant and alive in Chiswick’s West End.

Susan Stanley-Carroll

Every Tuesday there will be a free Talkback session at the Tabard with the cast and crew after the show.

Two runs from 12 to 29 April and tickets cost £18 or £15 for concession. The approximate running time is 90 minutes including an interval.

You can book all productions online on the Tabard Theatre web site or call the box office on 020 8995 6035 (leave a message if you can’t get through and your call will be returned).

Theatre at the Tabard is at 2 Bath Road, Chiswick (W4 1LW).