UK Theatre Network

A challenging two-handed one act play which intrigues its audience by presenting two different perceptions of a situation.

Steve Hay is Reg Armitage, a slightly curmudgeonly Scottish ornithologist who, pretty much by chance, finds himself living in model Dymphne Pugh Gooch’s flat whilst she is away.  Unfortunately Dymphne, beautifully played by beautiful Alexa Brown, needs to reclaim her living space sooner than expected and the two find themselves sharing the flat. 

David Halliwell’s play might be examining an existential theme but at least it has enough wit to hold the audience rather than baffling them entirely.  Sarah Dodd’s production is simply staged with little more than a couple of chairs, a table, two plinths and some white lines to define the space and she is served well by strong performers who have to deliver some fairly hefty monologues alongside the more snappy dialogue as Reg, Dymphne, and thus the audience, discover their ideas of who they are and how the other will react are often way of mark.

Occasionally the lighting, which was probably meant to assist the audience in knowing whose perception we were following, only served to confuse on the first night at the OFS Studio and the production was further hindered for this reviewer by uncomfortable seating.  However, the actors were strong, with Steve Hay particularly good at engaging the audience, and although both characters could have been unlikeable they succeeded in winning over both us and each other.