IT was with great disappointment that the decision had to be made to postpone the Teignmouth Players’ September production of The Last Five Years until next year.

It obviously meant that there was a gap in the programme to fill, so the society was delighted when Al Dunn, the director of Jim Cartwright’s Two, said that he and the cast were happy to reprise what had been an incredibly popular production when first staged at the Ice Factory in May this year.

It was so well received that they accepted an invitation from The Little Theatre, Torquay, to take the show there. A first for a Teignmouth Players’ production.

Two portrays a bickering husband and wife and the dozen regulars who pass through their pub, The Stuck Pig, in an evening.

All the characters are played by two actors, Emma Firth and Dave Scott, skilfully combining pathos and humour with each new character.

When a little boy is left behind by his father, a fragile reconciliation occurs as their own dark tragedy is revealed.

Director Al Dunn’s vision to turn the whole auditorium into a pub setting, is inspired. The feeling is completed by his opening the evening as quiz master

In Al’s words: ‘The action takes place over the course of a single evening in a friendly pub, so we’ve turned the auditorium into just that – somewhere you can come and have a fun evening and enjoy a bit of everyday culture.

‘As a director, I marvel at how actors are able to inhabit the character of someone else and make it seem real… and in this case so much more is demanded; the two actors are asked to play 14 characters between them which they achieve with aplomb.

‘When we first performed this production back in May it was so encouraging to see and hear the audience reaction to the characters who are – in this studio theatre – able to interact with the audience in an amazingly intimate way. It’s such a pleasure that Teignmouth Players have asked us to reprise the play for everyone who couldn’t get to see it first time round.’

Two opens on Thursday, August 31, until Saturday, September 2. Price £12 and tickets are available online from www.ticketsource.co.uk/icefactoryteignmouth or call the Box Office (01626) 778991 between 10am and Noon daily except for Sundays.