REVIEW - MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS.

THE idea is an obvious one, so obvious it might not have worked. Where better, first thoughts might suggest, to stage a play set in a pub, but in a real pub? Rocket Theatre Company, the resident team at this snug Albert Square basement venue, were however taking something of a risk, because make believe play acting doesn't necessarily mix with real life - and, brought up sharply against it, the result could have been less than intoxicating. In the event, it all works very well, thanks to a combination of a script that can hold its own, a couple of full bodied performances and some astute direction.

Bolton author Jim Cartwright's character study of a northern pub, its eccentric customers and its warring landlord and wife won the Manchester Evening News Best New Play award in 1989 and has been in production somewhere around the world ever since. It offers a heightened view of a succession of largely sad people, seeking shelter from the miseries of their lives.

There is the old woman dropping in for a drink at the end of a gruelling day in which she has coped with her incontinent husband. There is the little old man who still talks to his dead wife, the conning yobbo who will use all means at his disposal to get inside his girlfriend's purse; there's the lad the dad forgot on his way out - and, ministering to them all, there is the behind-the-bar couple who row because tonight is the anniversary of an event they cannot bear to discuss.

Director Martin Harris keeps it all firmly grounded in his real life setting, using the real bar and the room around it to considerable effect and with great skill, as his cast of two - playing all the characters - appear and disappear through an impossible number of entrances and exits. Clive Nelson and Karen Curtis are a formidable double act, managing to slip from one character to another with the minimum of disguises and always keeping the energy levels high.
Until March 16.

Review - The Big Issue.

Unless you're Bill Kenwright, there's not much dosh to be made in theatre. So it's impressive to find a company which is prepared to put its money where its proverbial mouth is. Rocket Theatre Company, Manchester's finest purveyor of pub theatre, is offering a full money back guarantee to anyone who doesn't enjoy their forthcoming production of Jim Cartwright's Two. But they're onto a pretty safe bet - the play, a hilarious but touching tale of a savagely bickering married couple who own a pub, is always a winner. Clive Nelson and Karen Curtis play multiple parts, and the production gains extra points for actually being staged in a pub. This could start a trend - you could stage A View From The Bridge on a bridge, Swan Lake on a Lake and The Changing Room in a changing room. Mind you, I'm not quite sure what you'd do about the current touring shows Howard's End and The Backside of Bobby Davro..

27th February - 16th March 1996, The Square Albert Pub, Manchester. Directed by Martin Harris. Stage Manager: Sorrel Thomas. Lighting: Iain Dennis. Cast: Karen Curtis / Clive Nelson.