There’s nothing like a silly scrape to raise a smile, and Ray Cooney’s ‘Two Into One’ farce, is Frinton Summer Theatre’s latest offering to spread laughter this season.
The premise of the story is quite simple: Richard Willey (Harry Ludlow) an MP wants to have a secret liaison with the Prime Minister’s secretary, Jennifer Bristow (Phoebe Shepherd). Of course, this being a farce, it means a much more complicated arrangement (they’re both married) and involves an array of characters (including their spouses!) telling half-truths and a whole catalogue of misunderstandings and misdemeanours.
As you would expect with a classic farce, there’s a lot of door action (opening, closing, slamming and the like). And Juliette Demoulin has cleverly thought out the set design for maximum aesthetic and comic appeal.
While the main character billed is Richard Willey, the star of the show is without a doubt his personal private secretary George (Jamie Treacher) who does a wonderful job of juggling a whole host of seemingly mad situations with aplomb.
You cannot go to a farce and expect a script that doesn’t stretch the imagination, and the increasingly madcap explanations and justifications are a delight to the audience as the mess gets bigger, deeper, stickier and more and more inescapable. But the lengths one will go to to save face, is where the humour lies.
‘Two Into One’ was first produced in 1981 and transferred to the West End in 1984. At that time Margaret Thatcher was in power. Cooney updated his play in 2020, and thus this revised version sees Boris Johnson as the backdrop, along with the use of mobile phones.
I’m a big fan of farce and absurd madcap comedy and love a bit of slapstick. But for me, this script felt more dated than what I had expected. Despite being revised within the last few years, the style of comedy felt more contrived than usual. I was a huge, huge fan of ‘Don’t Dress for Dinner’ (which Harry Ludlow also appeared in), so perhaps the bar was set so high then (it remains my most favourite farce of all time), it’s rather challenging for any other production to hit those heights.
At its core, ‘Two Into One’ is a silly, entertaining watch. You can’t take it too seriously, but there is plenty of onstage action which is likely to raise a smile and probably even a laugh or three.
Two Into One runs until 16th August at the McGrigor Hall with tickets available at https://fst-odes.co.uk/products/
Reviewer: Samantha Collett
Reviewed: 12th August 2025
North West End UK Rating: