Charming and disarming
A small, intimate studio space at Liverpool’s Royal Court theatre makes for a relaxed atmosphere in which to stage ‘Two Cities… Half The World Away’ – running from Sept 4th to 7th, the announcement of Oasis’ reunion could hardly have been better timed.
A three-hander written by Nicky Allt, ‘Two Cities’ is a smart, two hour commentary on two Northern cities which have so much in common but are divided by one unavoidable chasm: the football. The show is based around a simple and intriguing premise – what would happen if these two sides of the same coin, a diehard Man U fan and a diehard Liverpool fan, were locked in a room together?
It’s 2016, and Liam, a Scouser, is taken into custody while en route to the Man U v. Liverpool Europa League match at Old Trafford. His day gets immeasurably worse when Terry, a Mancunian, is put in the same cell as him. Liam is played by Joe Stanley and Terry by Ché Tligui, and the pair’s excellent chemistry is a pivotal factor in the success of this dialogue-heavy and set-light show. Desk sergeant Frank is the third character: ably played by Neil MacDonald, Frank has less to chew on than Liam and Terry, but makes good use of his comedic timing.
The play achieves a lot with its static set, one half of which is the cell and the other half of which is Frank’s office, with the clearly thoughtful use of lighting, music interludes, and set pieces: the hatch in the cell door is used to great effect throughout, and the set dressing was never overlooked (a whiteboard on Frank’s office wall reading ‘Important numbers’ includes ‘Police: 999’). There are a pleasing number of physical comedy gags throughout: Terry and Liam bracing for a fight on opposite sides of a pitch black cell, for example, as well as the payoff when their jerseys are revealed to one another for the first time.
While never losing its overarching bonhomie and levity, the heavier moments of the play are well-handled and feel notably authentic; particular mention must go to Tliguli’s vocal control and Stanley’s ability to turn his body language on a dime in selling the realism.
The impressive amount of dialogue is made to look easy by the cast – there was often the sense that we the audience were simply overhearing two lads having a chat (aided by their occasional well-timed ad libs). I’d suggest the script sometimes suffered from being a little too on the nose in terms of exposition, but the actors’ delivery – never taking themselves too seriously – went a long way towards couching this.
I found this to be a charming and disarming show, and am certain its location and venue made it all the more enjoyable – it’s hard to imagine a better city to stage this show than Liverpool (except maybe Manchester), and the cosy quality of the theatre allowed the play’s warmth and spirit to shine.