Two Rounds review, Jermyn Street Theatre
At FLO London we hope to keep you abreast of all the wonderful cultural events and unique places one can find in this great city of ours. Attending Two Rounds at the Jermyn Street Theatre presents the opportunity to tell you about this theatre, a stone’s throw from Piccadilly station. Pitted against the major productions of the London’s famed West End, the evenings performance in this tiny theatre holds its own.
Daria Mazzocchio, Flora Sowerby, Saria Steyl and Natalie Cutler in Two Rounds_Jermyn Street Theatre_Photography by Giulia Delprato.
Blink and you’ll miss the doorway entrance leading to the theatre of a mere 70 seats in a tightly packed room. Being an audience member in smaller theatres such as this feels special and the proximity to the action on the stage truly engages you in the story.
The production comes from the Aslant Theatre Company, an international female-led collective producing new work and imaginative adaptations. Despite Two Rounds having only three nights at the Jermyn Street Theatre we do hope this wonderfully amusing play will get another run.
Originally an Italian Play (Due Partite) by Oscar-nominee Cristina Comencini, it has been a phenomenon in Italy, attracting leading actresses of the country and staging several national touring productions since its premiere in 2006.
Saria Steyl in Two Rounds_Jermyn Street Theatre_Photography by Giulia Delprato.
The production opens with a group of four women, in the 1960s, around the table of their weekly Thursday card game. One soon comes to realise they know each other very well and have deep bonds of lifelong friendship. As their conversations begin sharing the mundane as well as the more serious their personalities quickly reveal themselves. Personalities we can recognise all too well. Claudia (Natalie Cutler), who seemingly has the perfect picket fence life, a beautiful home, doting husband and three children. Beatrice (Daria Mazzocchio), heavily pregnant at the embryonic stage of her married life. Starting her journey in love, hopeful, innocent and wide eyed. Gabriella (Flora Sowerby), a loveable character, is a little lost having given up her talented career as a pianist and questioning how she feels in her roll of wife and mother, pondering how she can guide her daughter towards a better life. Sofia (Saria Steyl), unhappy in marriage revealing she has two homes, one to do laundry in and another where she conducts her affair with a married man. While she may sound chaotic, her feathers do not ruffle easily and her character inhabits a serenity that brings calm to the group when emotions are running high.
The second half of the play jumps forward three decades with the women’s daughters now grown up, and gathered at a funeral.
Their familiarity and shared history with each other gives them a safe space to openly speak to each other during which we can observe some progress in their roles compared to their mothers yet some of the struggles of the women we meet at the play’s introduction is literally mirrored in their daughters. The play is a humorous yet moving experience as members of the audience will recognise parts of themselves, their mothers and grandmothers in the characters.
Daria Mazzocchio in Two Rounds 2. Jermyn Street Theatre. Photography by Giulia Delprato.
They speak of their mothers, trying to comprehend what life was like for them, and the roles they played and whether the men in their lives ever really understood them at all. In particular Beatrice’s daughter Giulia tries to comprehend the loneliness her mother felt despite her father’s love and finishes this play with an emotional performance, still wiping her tears during curtain call.
All four actresses performances were on point, reflecting their characters brilliantly with Evelien Van Camp’s costuming for this production perfectly enhancing their roles.
It is a timeless tale as women continue to juggle their roles in life, fight to be heard, deal with societal expectations, gain and lose reproductive rights, and strive for true equality. Two Rounds is highly recommend viewing.
Date: 7 February - 9 February 2024. Location: Jermyn Street Theatre,16B Jermyn St, St. James's, London SW1Y 6ST. Website: jermynstreettheatre.co.uk.
Words by Natascha Milsom
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