Review Roundup: See What Critics Had to Say About TWO LADIES

Zoë Wanamaker and Zrinka Cvitesic lead the cast of Two Ladies, a new play by Nancy Harris directed by Nicholas Hytner at the Bridge Theatre. They are joined by Lorna Brown, Raghad Chaar and Yoli Fuller who complete the cast.

Two Ladies continues at the Bridge Theatre until 26 October 2019. Set and costume designs are by Anna Fleischle with lighting byJohanna Town, sound by George Dennis and music by Grant Olding.

As their husbands clash over an international crisis, the first ladies of France and America find themselves alone together in a side room. Friends, or enemies? When the stakes are so high, can they trust each other? Can they trust their husbands?

Let's see what the critics had to say...

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Claire Allfree, Metro: Wanamaker is all growly pragmatism to Cvitesic's inscrutable, python-esque Sophia. But they are hamstrung by clumsy dialogue and a preposterous plot that, in Hytner's televisual production, starts to resemble a Jed Mercurio thriller spliced with Greek tragedy.

Rosemary Waugh, The Stage: But the entire piece is undermined by an unbelievable plot and the characters' extremely annoying tendency to deliver a potted history of their own lives each time they get the chance to speak. What starts out as an intriguing concept quickly becomes tedious, a problem exacerbated by a notable lack of tension.

Holly Williams, TimeOut: The idea of dramatising such women, who are so close to power, and examining whether or not they wield it themselves, is fruitful. But if the first half is a static, talky piece, Harris's play takes some unearned and unconvincing swerves that ultimately feel faintly ridiculous. Zoë Wanamaker is always hugely watchable as Helen: sharp, a little tetchy, dryly sarcastic; Zrinka Cvitesic coolly inhabits the initially glassily closed off, and later fiery, Sophia

Michael Billington, The Guardian: Nancy Harris's new play seizes on this to show the wives of the French and American presidents engaging in their own power battles during a summit conference and the result, over the course of 95 minutes, is provocatively amusing before descending into improbability.

Mark Shenton, London Theatre: As Harris keeps raising the stakes with another corkscrew turn, our patience is quickly eroded. The whole enterprise, as it constantly seeks to pull the rug from under the feet of its characters and re-calibrate the power struggle between them, becomes a kind of fake news of its own; a sensationalist gloss on the surface of a thin, shallow play.

Aleks Sierz, The Arts Desk: Nicholas Hytner sympathetically directs this 100-minute chamber piece on a set that, as designed by Anna Fleischle, loudly proclaims its credentials of power and privilege. He gives his actors the space to explore their characters, underlining the differences - personal, cultural and political - between the two women. Both Cvitesic and Wanamaker emphasise the contrast between the emotionally expressive Croatian and the rather buttoned-up Brit with an enjoyable precision.

Nick Curtis, Evening Standard: The parallels with Bridget Macron and Melania Trump are obvious, though writer Nancy Harris casts her net widely across the problems faced by all political spouses, in the orbit of power but largely powerless. Her play has many witty touches and startling moments but the relationship the two women develop with each other, and with two aides and a waitress who pop in and out of the action, are utterly unconvincing. Dramatic absurdities large and small culminate in a final act that's simply unbelievable.

Photo Credit: Helen Maybanks

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