Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating  9/10

Cast: Alan Wales, Winston J. Pyke.

Three plays, two actors, one overwhelming emotion of having sat through brilliance, rarely does the mind allow for such thought to become noticeable as you are immersed within a production but as Groundswell Theatre’s Alan Wales and Winston J. Pyke present the three plays linked by a common theme, it is hard to ignore that voice in the pit of the stomach that dares suggest, that any audience would love the whole experience.

Phil Booth’s three plays, Control, Nightmare in Paradise and Say Yes, take both actors down the route of almost unyielding destruction, of their characters becoming so consumed by desire, mistrust, open rebellion and fatal needs, that they grow in stature the longer they remain on stage. It is a compliment to the writer, the wonderful production of Marie Pyke and the audience as a whole, that the perhaps uncomfortable nature of selling out is so vividly framed and discussed.

Whether it is in Mr. Pyke’s portrayal of a young painter and decorator who is tempted by the lure of easy money offered by a seedy banker or Alan Wales’ Anthony lounging away on holiday with the thoughts of the murder of his younger partner running through his sharp analytical mind, the gravitas of both men as they delivered their stated intents and denials of alleged impropriety, was outstanding and tantalising to watch.

It is in the final play of the Three For Two package, Say Yes, and with the combination of both men being on stage at the same time, that the evening’s performance was ramped up and sent deeper into the dark side of human nature. The feeling of being complicit in the actions and haunting desires of Winston J.Pyke’s Gabriel, a football star who has it all, including a distasteful predilection to 14 year old girls, is one that you fight against, that you want to not be part of but as the discussion of loyalty and distrust comes out, you cannot help but be drawn into. A play in which both actors were sublime in.

A gorgeous piece of theatre, crafted with care by the two actors and producer Marie Pyke, making her first visit to the Fringe in seven years, Three For Two is a play of unrestricted intent and abiding talent.

Ian D. Hall