Interview with Two Pints Creators – Olympia Theatre

Two Pints – Olympia Theatre – Written by Roddy Doyle 18th –29 August 2020
by Frank L.

No More Workhorse got to sit down with the team behind Two Pints on the 25th of February. You can see the results below… 

In the appropriate surroundings of Maureen’s Bar in the Olympia theatre, Roddy Doyle along with director Caitriona McLoughlin and actors Liam Carney and Philip Judge talked about the play.

It has an unusual pedigree. Doyle had just opened a Facebook account about six years ago.  He decided to create for it a conversation between two men, who Doyle never names, but who had been life long friends. Doyle made them about five years older than himself so that they could have “grown-up” grandchildren. What he wrote on Facebook a friend suggested could be made into a play. From that the play “Two Pints” emerged about two men in their early sixties who have been friends a long time meeting in a pub to discuss the state of their lives and the world over a pint. The play also deals with serious topics as the father of one of the characters is seriously ill in hospital.

While the idea of two men talking to each other sounds a simple one, the process of writing this play was according to Doyle “very, very slow”. McLoughlin described the arc of the play is that “you start off eavesdropping on them but you end up by the end of the play in their company in their most vulnerable moments”.  While it might seem that the actors Liam Carney and Philip Judge, given the relaxed nature of their performances, indulge in the occasional piece of ad-libbing that is a misconception. They do not ad-lib. There is not “a breath”, “a word”, not “a comma” added. Doyle stated that he has thought of updating it but to do so “would be to open something that was pretty well made already, like a scarf that is really well-knitted and if you open it up you are just ripping it”.

As in any conversation between life long friends who have nothing to hide the chat careers over a vast variety of topics with the comic ever present even if the context in which the conversation takes place is a sombre one. As Doyle stated perceptively if someone is diagnosed with the coronavirus in Dublin in the coming days the jokes will spread faster than the virus.

Two Pints – Olympia Theatre – Written by Roddy Doyle 18th –29 August 2020

Photo – loen Farrell/Photocall Ireland.

Written by Roddy Doyle

Directed by Caitríona McLaughlin

Booking/Listings Information:

Venue: Olympia Theatre, Dublin

Date: 18th –29 August 2020