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Two by Jim Cartwright is a challenge to any actor. Daniel Creasey and Yvie Magee tackle fourteen separate characters between them to bring the script to life at the Henley Fringe Festival.

Daniel Creasey and Yvie Magee (aside director Redvers Lawson) join 20 other productions at the first Henley Fringe Festival with the modern classic, Two by Jim Cartwright.

Daniel Creasey

Set in a local pub, 14 characters are skilfully combined to produce an hour and ten minutes of witty and touching interaction.

Born and bred in Berkshire, both actors trained at The Rep College in Reading. Daniel spoke of the county’s lively theatre community.

"Berkshire's got some great theatres: one of the best small theatres in the country, in my opinion, The Watermill in Newbury. They do fantastic shows there."

The Henley Fringe Festival offers a new opportunity for local talent to be showcased. "We saw it advertised and we thought that it was something we'd really like to get involved in," says Yvie, "and then we found the play. I liked the diversity of it and Jim Cartwright is a fantastic author."

Lancastrian Jim Cartwright set the play entirely Northern but the Berkshire ‘Two’ has been brought closer to home. Yvie explains: "It's written to be in a local pub anywhere." Daniel adds: "It's better to find something that people can relate to, especially in the festival’s first year."

Yvie Magee

And how was it for these two actors to tackle so many characters?

"It's hard with so many characters to make them all different, because they are all written very differently," says Daniel, "but with 14 characters in such a short show you need to make them all stand out."

Yvie says: "We wanted to do it with our physicality and voices rather than with costume, and that's why there is literally a sprinkling of costume."

Yvie and Daniel are both aware of the stereotypes surrounding certain characters. "When you're a 27 year old girl playing an old woman there is going to be a certain stereotype to it," says Yvie, "but some of them we are trying to keep quite natural and quite real."

The characters were generally created as a team. "If they are a couple they've got to suit each other, because if they were too different from each other they wouldn't quite work," says Daniel.

The Landlord and Landlady are the only constant throughout the show. "You're always coming back to them and it's their story which drives the whole piece," says Daniel, "I think the Landlord's my favourite character."

Some characters were a more difficult challenge, such as the mad Alice and Fred who have ‘never been the same since Elvis died’.

Ìý"I struggled with Fred and Alice," explained Yvie, "because the writing is so out there. You've got to embrace it and hopefully that's what we've done.

Two is a big task to tackle, but the end result is always in mind. "It sounds a horribly actory thing to say," says Daniel, "but the applause tonight, that's what we do it for. That's what makes it all worth it."

Showing Wednesday 23 to Saturday 26 July 2008, The Henley Room, Hotel Du Vin, New Street, Henley-on-Thames, 7.30pm

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