THEATRE REVIEW: Two Metres Apart
15.11.2022 Basement Theatre, Auckland
Photo Credit: Brian Mac Rory
Two Metres Apart is one of those rare tales that manages to blend off-beat humour with genuine emotion. A perfect mix of Miranda and Eagle vs Shark, this performance does a great job of never feeling too quirky or too contemplative. A fun, feel-good performance that explores love in the time of face masks, hand sanitiser and standing two metres apart from each other.
Lockdown was a weird time. I remember meeting up with one of my close friends who was going through a bad break-up at the time. She walked to my house and stood outside the driveway, a couple of meters away from me. I sat on the doorstep and listened to her talk about her ex. She was in tears and I was thinking, what do I do? I can’t get any closer and we can’t take our masks off. I ended up focussing really hard on trying to convey a sense of empathy through my eyes alone. The whole interaction gave me a headache afterwards and I didn’t know whether my eyes just looked angry. I ended up anxiously messaging her afterwards, apologising if I seemed uncaring.
“A fun, feel-good performance that explores love in the time of face masks, hand sanitiser and standing two metres apart from each other”
Two Meters Apart considers every single one of these lockdown quirks with a lightheartedness: from hand sanitizer obsessions to uncomfortable Zoom calls. The use of rom-com tropes is done well, never feeling over the type, and creating a satisfying, wholesome performance. The show follows Joy and Michael, who are telling us how they met during the 2021 lockdowns. They have a meet-cute at a supermarket, their first date at a bus stop and fall in love, sitting two metres apart.
Acting duo, Sambarashe Matshe and Alice Pearce capture the awkward charm of Michael and Joy so well. They have this distinct opposing energy on stage: Joy as extroverted and talkative, Michael as quiet and a bit more introverted. They play off each other with a real sense of chemistry, clipping each other’s lines and feeding into each other’s energy. Their jokes are authentic and I am never laughing at the characters as goofy exaggerations, but I am laughing with them as painful realities of love in the time of lockdowns. They are awkward, and they don’t know how to reconcile the want for touch with the need to keep distance. It’s such a cute and clever premise.
Photo Credit: Brian Mac Rory
Matshe and Pearce really bring the script to life. They feel like real people. It was like I was talking to two friends at a party who actually did get together during lockdown and they were acting out their hilarious get together story. I felt real tenderness towards Joy and Michael, even in the first 10 minutes.
Tiani Taia Po’ona Keane’s direction is what really adds to the performance though. The split-stage technique of Joy and Michael’s (very different) morning routines was not only incredibly funny, but also incredibly relatable. I really liked seeing the exploration of how different people dealt with lockdowns, especially using interesting stage techniques.
I loved the encouragements of audience interaction to create audio cues (e.g. asking the audience to pat their knees to simulate rain). These aspects really utilized the medium of theatre. The theatre space is interesting because we are all just strangers sitting next to each other, laughing at the same jokes, feeling sad at the same times. And it’s different to theatre, because the actors can reach out from the stage space and talk to you. Theatre is such a communal thing, and Keane really pushed that feeling. I thought this was a great way to combat the feelings of isolation we became so familiar with during lockdowns. Two Metres Apart celebrates the joys of art and theatre. It explores the emotions and memories of lockdown in a way that is communal; in a way that brings people together and feels relatable.
“Two Metres Apart celebrates the joys of art and theatre. It explores the emotions and memories of lockdown in a way that is communal; in a way that brings people together and feels relatable”
And God, was this show relatable. I actually started crying with laughter at one point, seeing myself reflected in Joy’s anxious talking on stage. There was never one scene that felt cringey or overdone. Every time the characters ran through a commentary of their internal thoughts or Joy turned to the audience with a Miranda/Fleabag style grimace, I would burst out laughing. I also loved the dynamic between Joy and Michael’s different anxieties, especially when they were antagonising over which emoji to send each other. These tiny worries multiplied tenfold in Covid lockdowns and Two Metres Apart explores them with humour and sensitivity.
Photo Credit: Brian Mac Rory
Two Metres Apart also deftly captured those contradictory lockdown feelings of wanting to live life, but also wanting to keep safe. I still struggle with these thoughts to this day. There’s this moment where Joy is scrambling around for her hand sanitizer while saying something along the lines of: “need my hand sanitizer, because people are dying!”. And she says it in this kind of awkward and offhand way, which I really felt. There was this disconnect between going for walks and zoom calling your friends, and seeing the case numbers rise and knowing there were people on breathalysers in the hospital. Two Metres Apart really strikes that balance between lighthearted coping mechanisms and painful reality.
Two Metres Apart is wholesome, fun and relatable. Lockdowns were hard, but they also led to some nice moments too. I remember walking around my neighbourhood and finding new paths I had never seen before, seeing new scenery and meeting new people. Two Metres Apart captures these little moments of beauty and optimism perfectly.
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Book your tickets for Two Metres Apart here!
Director: Tiani Taia Po’ona Keane
Actors and Devisers: Simbarashe Matshe & Alice Pearce
Writer and Producer: Catherine Grealish
Presented By: Joy Productions
Photographer and Graphic Designer: Brian Mac Rory
Music: Playlist here