by Tennessee Williams
A NORDIC PREMIERE

Playmate Theatre Malmö presents the English-language Nordic premiere of this incredible, rarely performed Tennessee Williams play. Along with Eugene O’Neill and Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams is the foremost playwright of 20th-century American drama, famous for his iconic cult melodramas on screen and off - The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and more.

“THE TWO CHARACTER PLAY” by Tennessee William. Directed by Lars Junggreen.
A Nordic premiere in English.

The play begins with a brother and sister backstage. The curtain about to open on their latest play. They are actors, Felice and Clare.
Reality and fantasy are interwoven with terrifying power as they face a (perhaps imaginary) audience expecting a performance of The Two-Character Play.

It is an illusion within an illusion, created from isolation, panic, and fear. Two fragile, tempestuous siblings flinging words, embraces and insults, try desperately to limp through to the end of their day.
Why does the play never have an ending neither Felice can write nor Clare can act? It seems they are playing characters – also named 'Felice' and his sister 'Clare'!

Traumatised by the violent loss of their parents when they were children, they are still living in their family home. But isolated from the outside world. In the dark. Or is their home the theatre itself? Their theatre company and crew have vanished.
Why can’t they get beyond the front door? What are they afraid of?

Surprising both critics and audiences when it opened in 1967, THE TWO CHARACTER PLAY by Tennessee Williams is experimental, hyper-modern, a very meta production, aware of its own theatricality. It is partially autobiographical and took Tennessee Williams over 10 years to write. One of his final works, it was written after the death of his life's second great love, in the midst of his real-life depression, alcoholism and drug abuse.

At the time Williams wanted to experiment and expand his writing style, exploring the surrealist writing styles of Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter.
The character Clare is loosely based on Williams’ sister, Rose, a schizophrenic who was lobotomised and spent her life in an institution. This play is perhaps an echo of the life Tennessee Williams and his sister were never allowed to share. The character Felice seems to be based on Williams himself, a sickly child with an alcoholic father, an eccentric mother.

ON STAGE:
Andreas Lyon as Felice
Vanessa Poole as Clare
Ensemble: Stefan Ridell, Nathalie Drakemyr, Evdokia Kelessidi, Eva Söderquist.

CREW:
Directed by: Lars Junggreen
Director of Movement: Mariana Araoz
Director's Assistant: Alexandra Christensen
Dramaturg: Nicoline Thyrstedt Gandrup
Scenography advisor: Marta Cicionesi
Crew: E. Söderquist
Stage manager: R. LeBlanc
Light & sound design: Andrew Christiansen
Music composed by: BASIC BABY
Soundscape & sfx: Olle Nielsen @Rikoschett
Props: R. Gott
Logistics & support: Kevin Benn
Graphics: Anna Brenda
Photography: Smallfield
Photo & PR: Opus Anglia

In collaboration with HIT International Theatre Arts