In this two-hander from the combined pens of Benjamin Sumrie, Marco Biasioli, and Liam Grogan we are asked to believe that on a single chance encounter ten years' after they first met, acting pupil invites his examiner back for a cuppa and she accepts. It is a tenuous premise at best, but perhaps we buy into it, if indeed we are further led to believe that the chance bumping in, might have been engineered by the actor in the first place. What follows is that the actor thanks the examiner for awarding him 100% in his exam, and that it truly set him up for the last ten years of his acting career, believing that hardly anyone is given the full 100% and that therefore he is a brilliant actor and deserving of constant employment. However, said actor is somewhat unbalanced and psychotic. And so what follows becomes a psychological battle of wits between them, as he seeks justification and validation, whilst she simply tries to extricate herself from this unnerving and indeed dangerous scenario. There is a deal of humour in the script which is nicely placed, but sadly the story is extremely predictable and is completely without the "shock" element which this genre of theatre relies upon. The reality of the out-of-work actor and the situations and jobs he finds to sustain him do resonate though.
Acted with both skill and realism, the cast were Benjamin Sumrie (the actor), and Francesca Maria Izzo (the examiner). They worked well together and the suspenseful build-up especially from Sumrie, was nicely placed.
Directed by Liam Groggan, assisted by David Allen and Francesca Maria Izzo, this was a tight and thoughtful production which both actors responded excellently to; sadly, I had already second-guessed everything that happened and so felt a little cheated.
Reviewer - Alastair Zyggu
On - 5.7.25
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