‘Two Sisters’ by David Greig
Lyceum Theatre - 15/02/24
Seaside nostalgia and humour but was it worth it?!
This question is prompted by the opening note in the glossy programme when David Greig, who I think is one of Scotland’s finest playwrights, admits that this is his first original play to be staged at the Lyceum since he became artistic director in 2015! I was a little shocked by this fact; we all welcomed David’s appointment as director of what many regard as Scotland’s leading theatre (although the refurbished Citizens may give them a run for their money when it reopens this year), but some wondered whether playwrights should run theatres; others bemoaned the loss of a good playwright. It turns out both these worries have some justification. Many feel that the Lyceum has not been producing enough good original theatre and now we know that this is the first original play in a long time from David Greig. So the question for tonight is, was it worth waiting for?
My answer is unequivocally no. ‘Two Sisters’, even with its sub-Chekhovian in-jokes (probably lost on most of the young audience!) is not a great play. It’s a mildly entertaining bit of seaside nostalgia. Maybe this is all David Greig wanted and if so maybe he is happy; I’m sure most of my theatre critic friends in the NUJ will no doubt award him 4 stars. The Edinburgh Music Review doesn’t do stars. We ask our readers to read the reviews and make their own minds up about whether they like the show. If they said after this review that it sounds like three stars I wouldn’t disagree with them. My question remains could the playwright who produced great works like ‘Dunsinane’ and ‘Prudencia Hart’ have produced a work of greater substance and quality than ‘Two Sisters’; of course he could but it’s his theatre as director and of course his play so we must accept his choice, just as he must accept criticism, as I’m sure he does.
When the set was revealed on the stage I laughed because I recognised it. I discovered in reading about David Greig that he lives on the Fife coast near the caravan park at Pettycur Bay which is featured in the much repeated BBC Scotland film ‘The Bay’. I know this film very well and it features a good friend as one of the “characters” of The Bay; Victoria is a very interesting expert on Gothic literature and film and a biographer of Olivia De Havilland. I couldn’t help thinking her presence in the play would have given it a little more depth and a little more fun! Incidentally, the real present day Pettycur Caravan Park would never have allowed that tatty old caravan that is the centrepiece of the set in this play. All their caravans are very well turned out and the site has swimming pools, restaurants etc. Still they were trying to recreate their youth of some 25 years ago when maybe everything was a little tatty.
The central idea was that two sisters, Emma played by Jess Hardwick, and Amy, played by Shauna MacDonald, are going to spend a weekend together in this tatty old caravan where they once were on holiday some 25 years ago when they were teenagers. Both women are very good Scottish actors and did their best to create the author’s vision: Emma is a successful corporate lawyer married to an entrepreneur and is seeking a quiet week away to write her first novel which is in its very early stages. Her character reminds me of the well-worn joke “What are you doing? I’m writing a book. Yes, I’m not doing that too!” Emma is invaded by her sister Amy a very trendy drunk who has just been thrown out by her husband for seducing the plumber! Later they are joined by camp disc jockey Lance played by Swedish actor Erik Olsson. Now this is a co-production with Malmö Stadsteater, so maybe part of the deal was they needed a Swedish actor but I have to say he was the least convincing character on the stage; this may not be his fault but the way the part was written. These three characters are surrounded by a group of young people who commented on the nostalgia theme from comments written by the audience in a questionnaire filled in by some of the audience before the show. As an attempt at audience participation it was a bit weak, but the young people drawn from Edinburgh and Fife Colleges also provided useful set changers and occasional chorus.
So did it work? Well it certainly entertained the predominantly young audience who were ready to laugh at anything. I have to say they are very difference from opera audiences both in age and enthusiasm and thus raise the question ‘what about the music?’ As the editor of the Edinburgh Music Review I don’t normally review stage plays even with music, but our regular theatre reviewer was busy playing a gannet in North Berwick so I stepped in. I didn’t find the music very convincing in the play; it was there, music for the young people to dance to, music for the sisters to reminisce to, or music for the DJ to play. But it didn’t grip or evoke the period and it was often quiet. Now it may well be that I’m not familiar with the pop music of that period but for me it didn’t work. Did I laugh? Yes, now and again but not as much as the young people around me. Would I recommend you go and see it? Well if you don’t have anything better to do, it will provide a pleasant evening in Scotland’s most beautiful theatre. But should David Greig have written something more substantial? Well I would have preferred it, but then maybe his next play will live up to his justified reputation as one of Scotland’s leading playwrights. I don’t think he will be remembered for ‘Two Sisters’ but try it for yourselves. It’s on till March 2.
Your regular theatre reviewer Vincent did manage to see the show and generally agrees that it fell somewhat short of a masterpiece. But good in parts, especially the performance by Shauna Macdonald who, despite presenting a tiresomely self-obsessed character, wins us over in a full-bodied, finely timed performance. As acting theatre reviewer, your EMR editor Hugh demonstrates how his years as a politician enable him to gain insights into the behind-the-scenes dramas that your humble theatre hack could never attain! To see your theatre man transformed into a gannet, do come to “Believe it or Not - It Happened Here" at the Seabird Centre North Berwick 8pm, March 22nd (Proceeds to the Seabird Centre and the Harbour Trust).
