Two

Two' is a revival of Jim Cartwright's 1989 play – originally called 'To' – about a squabbling couple who run a pub. In this production the lead roles are played by Elaine C Smith (Rab C Nesbitt) and Andy Gray ('Stones in his Pockets'); their combined charisma, timing and, on tonight's evidence, popularity, allow the 'comic' passages to pass by with affable painlessness.

The problem is largely the play itself. Tony Cownie's weak direction of an already feeble script gives the audience a clear sense that 'Two' is ultimately meaningless, even before the final 'twist'. This denouement, in which the couple identify their 'crisis' and are reunited in one another's affections, is not so much redemptive as repulsive: a child's death is used for what amounts to no more than an emotional bribe, perhaps the cheapest I have ever encountered on the stage. Unconvincing and offensive in its sentimentality, 'Two's lack of appropriate drama will blow you away. [Rupert Thompson]