53Two as a venue is really coming up in the world, continually surprising with their productions and more so recently with their innovative and versatile staging. More and more companies now are looking at moving away from the sometimes too traditional and restricting proscenium arch styled stage and along with Hope Mill Theatre, 53Two have not just the capacity but also the innovation to accommodate these ideas, and this evening's production of 'Tea And Two Sugars' by Two Time Theatre Company in asociation with 53Two's FOUNDation was absolutely no exception.
In order to take our seats we had to walk through the front door and across the living room of the set. A set, which was extremely well designed and very realistically furnished. It also was apparent why this configuration was appropriate as we heard the girls' chatter in the hallway (an unamplified echo from the bar area) as they entered the flat. A nice touch by director Chloe Patricia Beale. In fact, Beale had many such wand-waves throughout the production which was sensitively and realistically handled by the two actresses.
The intimacy of the setting, and the diminutive size of the stage was very effective and brought us in much closer to the action than we would normally have been on a cenventional stage. This also allowed for the actresses to be much more naturalistic in their acting, without the need to project voices or always think about basic stagecraft and techniques, and relax more into the roles in order to garner more sympathy from the audience. Another nice ploy. However the scene changes were too long and this dragged a little. The whole could have done to have been a mite pacier.
The aim of this play is to promote debate and raise awareness of cervical cancer, and address the issue of the age of screening and those who are affected by it at such a young age. This lofty undertaking and this weighty subject matter were handled with lightness and seeming ease. A lovely rapport was built between the two actresses and there was well-placed humour and bonhomie throughout, enabling the story to be told, get the message across and stop it from becoming maudlin and perhaps even trite.
The story is about Hannah (Rachel Isbister), a 25 year old with everything just beginning to happen in her life. She has a steady boyfriend whom she is very much in love with, her writing career is just getting off its feet, and she has everything to live for. Her younger sister, Issy (Chrystal Williams) is still at school and is continually falling out with their mum and so spends a lot of her time 'bugging' her sister keeping out of mum's way. It took a while to build up to the moment Issy realises her sister has cervical cancer, but when that moment came Williams was superb in her attitude towards it and how it would impact on their relationship. Isbister's calm and level-headed decision though, although it probably makes sense, didn't seem real. This is simply that the gap between being diagnosed and her fate was both too short and not apparent enough. Wisely the decision to not visualise the decline in cancer was taken, so we never saw the pain, the weakness, the suffering, the vomiting, the hair loss, the tiredness. Perhaps asking such a young actress to cope with such things was a little much in any case, but because we didn't see these things, the end seemed somehow more of a fantasy than a reality, especially after the 'disco' scene, which in my opinion would have been a better place to end the play.
The familial relationship is developed very early on and it is very natural and engaging. I particularly enjoyed the difference in movement between the two sisters. Isbister was upright, calm and serene, almost statuesque. Her silences were what I would call TV silences; the kind where you could read her thoughts even though she wasn't actually saying or doing anything. This contrasted beautifully with Williams' continual fidgeting. Even when she tried to be still she couldn't - a typical teenager.
Despite the play's flaws (co-written by both Williams and Isbister) these two can still work their magic and bring to life real, empathetic and enagaging humans. The depth of insight brought into both of these characters was quite astounding, and yes, we all left with tears in our eyes.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 19/2/19
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