Writer: Cristina Comencini
Director: Aida Rocci
Two Rounds follows the fortunes of four sets of mothers and daughters in late 20th-century Italy: first Claudia, Beatrice, Gabriella and Sofia (), and then their daughters Cecilia, Giulia, Sara and Rossana, each played by the same actor as the mother. While an excellently performed script, the occasional overemphasis on discussing the roles and nature of women’s position in the world can lead to a flatness in dialogue that dilutes the play’s central message.
The first set of four women is playing cards as they do every Thursday: Claudia (Natalie Cutler) is the ‘perfect wife’, Beatrice (Daria Mazzocchico) is heavily pregnant, Gabriella (Flora Sowerby) is unhappy and Sofia (Saria Steyl) is reeling from the loss of her lover. Writer Cristina Comencini does a good job of showing the depths to these women; that Claudia’s happiness is not perfect, for instance. As the act progresses it has many interesting things to say about the role of women in relation to men, careers, children and each other, with a strong second-wave-feminism stance filtered through the gaze of these ordinary women.
Unfortunately, these views are often expressed in lengthy, middle-distance-focused monologues that whilst well-written are too frequent and slow the play’s pace, feeling like a lecture or a showcase, as does the frequent use of questions along the lines of ‘What is a woman’s role?’ Worthy of discussion and well-rendered both in script and performance, it does sometimes feel like Feminism 101.
Far better is Act 2, where the daughters take central stage and analyse both their own positions and the effects of their mothers on them. Comencini’s writing is at its strongest when the women consciously or unconsciously echo their mothers, drawing on the differences in both their personalities and their eras, allowing her comedic writing strengths to shine through. Reaching the conclusion that as things change they very much stay the same, Comencini emphasises with far greater subtlety the pressures of modern women and the confusion over where they sit in life. Of course, Act 2 wouldn’t work without Act 1, but the in-your-face near-academia of the first act feels a tad flat.
The cast is uniformly excellent, easily drawing the similarities and differences between their dual castings. Natalie Cutler has a prim-and-properness that conceals a strong comic tone and need for liberation; Daria Mazzocchio handles the two most emotional characters in the piece with a lightness of touch and tenderness; Flora Sowerby gets all the best lines and delivers them with aplomb; Saria Steyl excels in her characters’ mixture of propriety and secret desires. A fine ensemble, they seem as if they’ve been friends for years, and all have excellent comic timing.
Two Rounds is an enjoyable female-led piece with much importance to say about the roles of women within their private and public lives, how they can reveal the contradictions of their lives to female friends, and how mothers and daughters will continue to influence one another’s lives, be they on-stage or off. However, its overcommitment to doing so sometimes dents the play’s realism, whereas the meanings behind these relationships spark off in their interaction with one another, rather than their next monologue about the difficulties of being a woman today.
Runs until 10 February 2024