Charlotte Rich

Acting 2

"Two"- Jim Cartwright

This term we were tasked with putting on a production of "Two", by Jim Cartwright.

Now, I had never heard of this play before so I decided to do some research into the story and other productions of "Two":

"Two" is set in 1980's northern Britain and focuses on the Landlord and Landlady, and the lives of their regular patrons. The entire play is set with only 2 characters on stage at a time, so it is possible to have only 2 actors multirole the entire 14 member cast, but were lucky in that we have 9 actors in our group (13 members total, 3 backstage), so only a few of us would have to multirole the characters.

https://www.dramaandtheatre.co.uk/content/lesson-plans/play-for-study-two/#:~:text=Jim%20Cartwright%27s%20Two%2C%20first%20performed,at%20KS3%2C%204%20and%205.

https://www.newvictheatre.org.uk/productions/two/

Next we were given extracts of the script to look over and decide on which character we wanted to audition for. We would then go through the audition process and be given characters that were decided by a panel (who were acting as casting directors basically).

I knew that I wanted to leave with a bang (being my last performance in education), so I was going to go up for the leading female character; The Landlady. I printed off the audition material for the Landlady and rehearsed it until I was off script, then went into auditions.

Of course, as sods law does, I lost confidence just before the audition and so had to use the script a little but otherwise, I'm happy with how the audition went.

The feedback I received for it was really positive, but my accent "took them around the UK", so something I need to work on is maintaining an accent accurately, and not slipping into other dialects.

We received our characters and....I GOT THE LANDLADY!!! Now to get my highlighter and get line learning!

Cast:

Landlady- Charlotte Rich

Landlord- Ryan Thornton

Moth- Kian Hennessy (Jamie Parry)

Maudie- Basia Klimek

Mr Iger- Sam Gwilliam

Mrs Iger- Hollyann Freeman

Fred- Thomas Dyson

Alice- Fru Docs

Roy- Sam Gwilliam

Lesley- Hollyann Freeman

The Other Woman- Fru Docs

Boy- Faith Bethell

Old man- Thomas Dyson

Old Woman- Faith Bethell

Crew:

Producer- Sonia Friend

Director- Spike Heart

AD- Charlotte Rich

Stage Manager- Josh Jarvis

Props Management- Sam Gwilliam

Hair and Makeup- Emily Bannister

General assistants: Faith Bethell

Thomas Dyson

Phoebe Pope

William Eldridge ( Jamie Parry)

Fru Docs

Emily Bannister

The Landlord and Landlady- important info and backstory

met outside the pub when they were kids
first drink in this pub
first date in the pub
21st's in the pub
Wedding reception in pub- only because lady wanted too
7 year old son, died in a car crash 7 years ago- Landlady was driving and survived, comatose when her son was buried.
In their 40's (guessed)
they love each other really but hate and grief has overtaken that

Showdates:

Create25 week: 16th - 20th June 2025

Show 1, 18th June- Matinee (outside in Tee-Pee), free admission, adapted show

Show 2, 19th June - Theatre Matinee, un-ticketed, Full show

Show 3, 19th June- Theatre Evening, Ticketed, Full show

Rehearsals

This rehersal was getting to know the set and stage we would be using. We would be performing with limited and fixed set and would consist of 2 tables, 4 chairs and a bar. Only the Landlord and Lady will be behind the bar so it was only us who would have to worry about any hazards behind there (trips, spills, breaks etc).

Otherwise, Ryan (Landlord) and myself just tried to block out the basic steps to the first scene without getting distracted by other things around us!

One of the ways that I find most helpful when learning lines, is repetition.

Repeat it until you are sick of it. Record the lines. Sleep to it. Read the script while your breaking at work (what I did here), but don't stop even if you think you know it. Read the words on the paper, read the words out loud from the paper, repeat until your sick of them, repeat the words without looking at the paper. Check. Yes? move on. No? start again.

At this point the characterization I was developing was beginning to show through.

This production has been directed and written as a naturalistic (or realistic) production, so the audience is expecting to see something they could believe happening in everyday life. This means:

no over exaggeration (like panto comedy)
realistic reactions and actions

The kind of acting techniques I tend to use are; Method acting (becoming the character), Stanislavski system (asking; Who, What, where, when, why, how, and challenges), Meisner (spontaneity and truth from the character), Lee Strasberg method (memory and emotional recall for a character) and Chekhov methods (to create the characters inner life).

https://www.findanartist.co.uk/blog/the-5-main-acting-techniques-–-actors-and-their-acting-styles

https://www.actingcoachscotland.co.uk/blog/major-acting-techniques-world

This rehearsal is one of the most complete ones we have done so far. Hair, Makeup, Costume, Set and props were almost finished and being implemented in rehearsals and lighting was being set. Ryan and I were doing our best to be as off script as possible, but we had a script behind the bar so we could look if necessary. Having to remember lines, staging and then get used to using props (we use a lot of glasses!) was proving challenging but apart from a few line prompts and pauses I think we did pretty well!

Something I noticed while re-watching the video, is that Ryan's YouTube has added in voice captions (on purpose or not, I have no idea!) Usually, this is annoying to me, but its actually proving how clearly we are speaking which is really really useful for figuring out if were speaking clearly enough for the audience to understand us.

Unfortunately, Ryan's phone ran out of stage. Lucky for us, Fru was on standby with her phone to replace, and we barely missed anything!

During the Old man scene: it looks really awkward for Tom to try and move one of the chairs himself, so I need to find a way to help him out.
During stag- do scene: bell was missing, find a sneakier way to exit
Bullseye brown scene: STOP CUTTING OFF RYAN! there are only 2 lots of 'Don't yous'
Profits on the drip scene: use a free pourer, not a measured, don't forget shut up, laugh is too much- tone it down.
end scene: be louder on 'night love', make sure crisps spread, don't combine lines, no arms on 'love or beat it out of me', be on bar side right, don't drop voice level in emotional scenes, make bottle look more obvious, build up the cry if possible, emotional monologue lines messed up, louder 'cash up tomorrow and I love you too'.

Order of bows:

Landlord and Landlady, un-held hands (centre of stage)
Little Boy
Moth and Maudie
Mr. and Mrs. Iger
Fred and Alice
Landlord and Landlady, held hands (outside of stage to meet centre)
1. 2 group bows, couples held hands
2. gesture to tech box
3. 1 group bow
4. exit to closest side