Two Sisters Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh 15th February 2024 Review
Two Sisters is at the Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh from Saturday 10 February to Saturday 02 March and the story is a simple, but very powerful and effective, one with a very big question. Can the past, particularly a place of cherished childhood memories ever live up to expectations when re-visited and viewed through adult eyes? More importantly can people from that past still be as you remember them too, or are they, are you, are all of you now different people at heart?
With “Two Sisters”, writer David Greig (also Lyceum artistic director) asks these and many more questions from both the perspective of looking back at who you were as a teenager and looking forward at who you think you will become as an adult. David Grieg has an ability to make the most ordinary of people and events interesting and to find a real story in them, and this is perhaps why “Two Sisters” is working so well on stage as many of us will recognise a little of ourselves in here somewhere, and if not that recognise a little bit (or maybe a lot) of someone that we know, or have known in this narrative.
The dialogue for sisters Emma (Jess Hardwick) and Amy (Shauna Macdonald) as they revisit their childhood paradise, a seaside caravan park that is now in terminal decline as a holiday destination, is lively, at times insightful, and beneath the surface of much of the text is asking many questions about love, loss, happiness, material wealth and relationships. At its heart “Two Sisters” is very close to an old fashioned morality play and the choice to have the fun loving sister dressed in black and the on the surface far more conformist sister in white gives a very visual statement here too.
The reasons for Emma and Amy being together at this scene of shared childhood memories are however very different and that, along with the introduction of a figure from their shared past, Lance (Erik Olsson) allows this narrative to explore in many different levels questions of self-identity. The addition of a chorus of young people being woven into this work gives an opportunity for real time dynamics between youth and adulthood and of course gives a much needed opportunity for this chorus of people to learn their craft the only way that is possible, by performing on stage in front of a live audience.
“Two Sisters” does have a content warning – “Some strong language, use of firearms, drug use, sexual references”. Whether you think the use of strong language is always necessary to the story line, or simply a reflection of how many people speak today is of course subjective and a personal taste.
Here Shauna Macdonald (Amy) and Jess Hardwick (Emma) are believable, but very different sisters and, despite their very different career paths, life-styles and moralities, they obviously care for one another. Erik Olsson (Lance) is always walking a delicate tightrope between the two sisters’ emotions here and he does it very well. The contrast between Lance, who has never really moved on in his life and Amy and Emma who clearly have, raises more than a few questions about just what personal happiness is too.
Are memories always better than reality if revisited? Can you pick up from where you left things 25 years ago? Two big questions with no right or wrong answers, but David Greig obviously knew this when writing this script and his exploration of the personalities of Amy and Emma is an interesting one.
Ultimately does that teenage person ever leave us or just sit within us all a little quieter than before just waiting to be asked the right questions or looking for the right moment to come out again?
Ultimately though is the past not called the past for a reason and sometimes just better left there and only viewed from time to time through rose-tinted glasses?
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
With “Two Sisters”, writer David Greig (also Lyceum artistic director) asks these and many more questions from both the perspective of looking back at who you were as a teenager and looking forward at who you think you will become as an adult. David Grieg has an ability to make the most ordinary of people and events interesting and to find a real story in them, and this is perhaps why “Two Sisters” is working so well on stage as many of us will recognise a little of ourselves in here somewhere, and if not that recognise a little bit (or maybe a lot) of someone that we know, or have known in this narrative.
The dialogue for sisters Emma (Jess Hardwick) and Amy (Shauna Macdonald) as they revisit their childhood paradise, a seaside caravan park that is now in terminal decline as a holiday destination, is lively, at times insightful, and beneath the surface of much of the text is asking many questions about love, loss, happiness, material wealth and relationships. At its heart “Two Sisters” is very close to an old fashioned morality play and the choice to have the fun loving sister dressed in black and the on the surface far more conformist sister in white gives a very visual statement here too.
The reasons for Emma and Amy being together at this scene of shared childhood memories are however very different and that, along with the introduction of a figure from their shared past, Lance (Erik Olsson) allows this narrative to explore in many different levels questions of self-identity. The addition of a chorus of young people being woven into this work gives an opportunity for real time dynamics between youth and adulthood and of course gives a much needed opportunity for this chorus of people to learn their craft the only way that is possible, by performing on stage in front of a live audience.
“Two Sisters” does have a content warning – “Some strong language, use of firearms, drug use, sexual references”. Whether you think the use of strong language is always necessary to the story line, or simply a reflection of how many people speak today is of course subjective and a personal taste.
Here Shauna Macdonald (Amy) and Jess Hardwick (Emma) are believable, but very different sisters and, despite their very different career paths, life-styles and moralities, they obviously care for one another. Erik Olsson (Lance) is always walking a delicate tightrope between the two sisters’ emotions here and he does it very well. The contrast between Lance, who has never really moved on in his life and Amy and Emma who clearly have, raises more than a few questions about just what personal happiness is too.
Are memories always better than reality if revisited? Can you pick up from where you left things 25 years ago? Two big questions with no right or wrong answers, but David Greig obviously knew this when writing this script and his exploration of the personalities of Amy and Emma is an interesting one.
Ultimately does that teenage person ever leave us or just sit within us all a little quieter than before just waiting to be asked the right questions or looking for the right moment to come out again?
Ultimately though is the past not called the past for a reason and sometimes just better left there and only viewed from time to time through rose-tinted glasses?
Review by Tom King © 2024
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com