Two

This is a story about a northern pub where the landlord and landlady welcome everybody with open arms. Although the couple are always arguing they work together to keep the locals in high spirits with drinks, conversation and laughter.

Landlord played by Christian Lenehan and the landlady played by Alison Fligg were very relatable to the audience as we have all seen and know people who are very happy go lucky people to the outside world but behind closed doors they are arguing and not talking to each other. Both parts were played very well and the way they interacted with the audience felt as though you were in the pub with them.

The story continued with the regulars coming in and giving their stories about themselves and first in was the old woman played by Viv Kendall, telling everybody how she looked after her incontinent husband, and she pops into her local for a drink to have a break.

Then there was the old man played by Nigel Walker who carried his wife’s ashes around with him in a teapot, you felt sorry for him especially when he brought the teapot out of his shopping bag and placed it on the table.

The comedy element in the show was from Moth played by James Nuttall and Maudie played by Tina Wilson-Ferris, a bit of a womaniser was Moth who relied on Maudie to pay for everything. All that Maudie wanted was a commitment from Moth and when he started dancing on the dancefloor his moves were so hilarious I could not stop laughing, this partnership was comedy gold.

Now to Mr Iger played by Hannah Kessler and Mrs Iger played by Caia van den Elza, a very timid husband trying his best to get to the bar for his wife a drink but was always getting pushed out of the way. They were both amusing.

The section with Roy played by Chris Walton and Lesley played by Jess Bullock was extremely uncomfortable because it was so well played, the brooding menace of controlling Roy and the tortured shell of Lesley were just excellent potrayals.

Fred played by Melvyn Kendall and Alice played by Carolyn Sands brought a bit of humour back to the play which was well needed after Roy and Lesley.

Woman played by Megan Evans and the Little Boy played by Thomas Tyson delivered their lines ever so well, and the rest of the cast who kept coming to the pub at different times made the play realistic.

Back to the landlord and landlady, each section with them built up a story of their own tragedy and the reason came out why they had stopped communicating with each other. This was the saddest part of the story but executed brilliantly.

A very huge congratulations goes to the director Benita Blacklock, your attention to detail was excellent, the right music choices, having the audience as if they were also in the pub, and the way you had people coming and going kept the play flowing all night. I must mention the sound by Jim Polmear and lighting Kathryn Metcalfe as these were both very good on the night. Stage Manager Annette Johnstone had a wonderful and realistic set well done.

A great play, I raise my glass to you all it was wonderful.

Jim Morgan

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