Review: Two Sisters
Royal Lyceum ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Seldom is there any justification for a play to have a running time of more than 2 hours 40 minutes, including an interval. There are exceptions, of course. At 2 hours 40 minutes, plus an interval, Two Sisters, the first original work from David Greig to be staged at the Lyceum since he took the reins as Artistic Director in 2015, is not one of those exceptions, although it really should be.
Two Sisters asks questions such as, ‘Who were you at 16?’ and ‘What were your hopes and fears?’ Quite literally, as you discover on arrival. Yes, there’s audience participation, but we shall come back to that later.
Greig’s tale of Emma, Amy and Lance, three reunited friends wrapped up in the ‘what if’ angst of middle-age, is a bitingly funny, sharply observed and deeply thought-provoking piece that instantly connects, engulfing you in a warm, nostalgic embrace.
When the worlds of two very different sisters collide at the caravan park where they spent their childhood holidays, there’s a reckoning to be had. With a successful career in the legal profession, pregnant Emma has ambitions yet to be fulfilled. Judgemental and emotionally distant, she is the polar opposite of her older sibling, Amy.
Taking a break from her marriage and family, Amy is a free spirit in turmoil. A sexual and emotional being who, despite success in her own field, remains haunted by the abandoned hopes of her youth. The pair come together again at Holiday Heaven Caravan Park, Amy gatecrashing Emma’s ‘retreat’ to explore her creative prowess as a writer. Theirs is an uneasy encounter to begin with and one that quickly becomes ever more complicated with the arrival of handy-man Lance, who brings long subdued memories tumbling to the fore.
It’s 25 years since the sisters last holidayed here and what unfolds is a deftly crafted tale of unrequited love, sibling rivalry, unfinished business, and the bittersweet understanding of life that comes with being on the wrong side of 40 as the fears and dreams of youth become a foreign country.
Played out on designer Lisbeth Burian’s functional yet evocative set (a fixed caravan, climbing frame, swing and sea wall amid the faded remains of the once vibrant caravan park), Greig’s new play explores beautifully the consequences of letting mid-life fantasies encroach into the reality of a life already half lived and is as engaging a study of ‘adulting’ as your will find.
Shauna Macdonald is magnificent as the sex obsessed, wantonly outrageous and deeply troubled Amy, an iconic creation that is impossible not to take to your heart. Jess Hardwick too, as the sensible, pragmatic Emma is on fine form. Emma’s insecurities may be better hidden than those of her sister, but Hardwick’s nuance is sublime. Together, their shared chemistry is elemental.
Competing the unlikely triumvirate is Erik Olsson as hippy handy-man, Lance; a ‘ageing player’ trapped in the past, stifled and rendered powerless by his own inertia. It’s a comfortably laid back performance from Olsson. As casting goes, you could not ask for better than these three, their stage craft is immaculate.
Wils Wilson directs with a pace that defies the running time and ensures the evening never drags, but while it’s easily a four star play, in parts the execution is problematical, making it a three star production.
The first 10 minutes finds the show’s Chorus - who remain onstage throughout much of the performance - explaining they will deliver memories of audience members of the summer they were 16, throughout the scripted action; you are invited to complete a questionnaire before the performance, which the Chorus collect and read from.
This mining of audiences memories is a clumsy dramatic device quickly exposed as an unnecessary exercise. The mooching Chorus is incongruous and, on occasion, uncomfortably voyeuristic and the thoughts of the audience members themselves are intrusive, often self-indulgent and only break the spell of Greig’s beguiling storytelling, which is a real shame.
Runs until March 2. Tickets here
