Review: Two of Them

Inspired by Christopher Orchard’s artwork, Russell Fewster presents Two of Them, a breathtakingly immersive commentary on human identity. The play features characters Abe and Balt: suited, bald businessmen drawn directly from Orchard’s artwork.

Serving as avatars for us all, the duo invites the audience quite literally into their surreal world, leading them from the MOD foyer into a mesmerising performance space. The audio-visual effects in this space are truly awe-inspiring: four screens high on each wall display scenes from Orchard’s work, accompanied by eerie audio. As rumbling thunder strikes, overhead lights flash while dark clouds on the screens swirl menacingly.

The audience is mesmerised, feeling as if they’re inside the artworks. Abe and Balt’s characterisation furthers this immersion. Their earnestness and confusion as they navigate the surreal, varying landscape is not only endearing, but relatable; the audience is just as confused themselves. As the duo fights to escape their corporate fate, desperately clinging to a false sense of uniqueness, they are pushed around by Fate herself, who is dressed entirely in black but for her white gloves.

At times, the confusing nature of the show is too much; the audience wonders where Fewster is taking them, and to what end. Nonetheless, it complements the surrealness of Orchard’s artwork and makes for a thought-provoking experience. The duo’s witty wordplay is both entertaining and exposing, providing comedic balance while suggesting humans’ obsession with mundane choices is a ploy to feel a sense of control. Two of Them is a bizarre, entrancing theatre experience that calls into question what identity and fate means in the corporate world.

Two of Them, MOD. at UniSA, until 9 March