Simon Ward reviews Two Strangers and a Clipboard at the Etcetera Theatre

Written and directed by Maria Speight, this is a piece presented as workshop preview prior to a planned summer festival run. Set in a universe that has some overlaps with ours – Celine Dion, cassette tapes, retro mobile phones and the Sony Walkman – but which, in other ways, resembles a Huxleyesque world where babies are assigned designated roles at birth. The absurdity of such an idea is emphasised by the fact that the allocation is done simply based on the day of the week on which the child is born – ‘Corpus’ for Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays; ‘Creare’ for the other three days. As the Judge (Kimberley Ellis) explains – those who are assigned to Corpus are destined for more technical, unimaginative work, Creare for anything that requires creativity. It is not hard to see that this could lead to problems if a Corpus-shaped personality is trying to fit into a Creare-shaped whole, or vice versa. And so it is that Sam (Gaby Coleman) winds up in court to argue that they should be granted permission to change. Gary (Charlie Jennings) is the other stranger in court and the clipboard-wielding ‘Chaperone’ (Lucy Forker) completes the trio of the title.

Gary and Sam begin to form an alliance in the face of the bureaucratic hurdles placed in their way. In Gary’s case, it is not so much that he has been dealt with unjustly, but rather that there were extenuating circumstances which should really be taken into account. For Sam, on the other hand, there is a sense that their whole life has been a mistake and nothing has ever made sense. There is much comedy to be had in an inflexible regime coming up against the messy realities of human life – Forker excels as the rigid martinet who accidentally reveals a bit too much of her more flamboyant extra-curricular side. This, of course, is the whole point of the show – I dare say even the Judge might be tempted to let her hair down after a hard day’s judging.

This is a funny, heart-warming piece, in particular in the unlikely bond that forms between Sam and Gary – chalk and cheese, Oasis and Celine Dion. The fact that they are so different, in spite of belonging to the same ‘assignation’ itself gives the lie to the nonsensical system. Yet, in spite of their differences, they face a common enemy in the system, and they know that they will be stronger if they fight together. We have to guess how their cases will turn out, but we dare to believe that something that will survive beyond the case has been forged. As well as being a passionate plea for tolerance of difference, the piece is also a call to arms for ally-ship, to make concrete and practical steps to help those whose causes you may have supported remotely before. We can see that this is a sideways satirical riff on our own world, but is its rigid compartmentalisation of people a bit too close to home?