Tennessee Williams "THE TWO CHARACTER PLAY" a Nordic premiere, drama thriller

Tennessee Williams "THE TWO CHARACTER PLAY"
*Never before performed in Scandinavia!
A meta psychological thriller.
Wed 13 – Sun 17 November 2024
TICKETS: https://www.kulturcentralen.nu/evenemang/the-two-character-play
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 is the one Tennessee Williams stage play you have not seen.
"...my most beautiful play since Streetcar, the very heart of my life"…
/ Tennessee Williams

An exciting, tour de force performance by strong character actors Andreas Lyon (US) and Vanessa Poole (UK), accompanied by a choreographic movement ensemble of four. Behind the play is a top-notch Anglo/Danish team of professional theatre-makers.

THE PLOT
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? Their theatre company and crew have vanished.

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?
Why can’t they get beyond the front door? What are they afraid of?

ABOUT THE PLAY
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.

RARELY PERFORMED
*THE TWO CHARACTER PLAY first premiered in 1967 in London, remained relatively undiscovered for years in Europe, returned to the stage triumphantly in London in 2021. It is now, finally, more relevant than ever to the universal human condition in 2024, in a world facing crumbling borders, warped realities and absurdist socio-political scenarios – more than ever before.
Never before performed in Scandinavia professionally.

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

MEET THE MAIN CAST
Andreas Lyon plays Felice.
Andreas Lyon is an American-Danish character and strong method actor as well as international Chubbuck technique acting coach, who has re-located to Copenhagen after living and working for 10 years as an actor in LA, now seen on Danish TV.

Vanessa Poole plays Clare.
Vanessa Poole, Malmö-based British character & stage actress, a Playmate favourite, trained for the theatre in Sweden, Denmark UK including master classes on voice, movement, drama and speech with Patsy Rodenburg, Judy Kuhn, Declan Donnellan, Barbara Houseman and more.

CREW:
Directed by Lars Junggreen
Director of Movement Mariana Araoz
Director's Assistant Alexandra Christensen
Dramaturg Nicoline Thyrstedt Gandrup
Scenography advisor Marta Cicionesi
Backstage E Söderquist
Stage manager & props R. LeBlanc
Light & sound design Andrew Christiansen
Music composed by BASIC BABY
Soundscape & sfx Olle Nielsen @Rikoschett
Logistics & support Kevin Benn
Graphics: Anna Brenda
FACEBOOK EVENT: https://fb.me/e/2i8NlaUic

* THE TWO CHARACTER PLAY in Malmö is a professional performance jointly presented by Playmate Theatre Malmö, in collaboration with HIT International Theatre Arts; presented by special arrangement with The University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee