Review: Two Come Home (King's Head Theatre)

Review by Raphael Kohn

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Under the surface of this play with music lies something truly heartfelt. The three-piece folk band plays as you enter, possibly semi-improvised, setting us deep into the American south. The small set holds only a sofa and a table. But the serenity doesn’t last, for we are to be plunged into a dark story of love, guilt, anger, and addiction. For those looking for a light-hearted night out, this one probably isn’t it. But for those looking for a thought-provoking, heartstring-pulling night out… well, for five nights only (before it moves to Colchester), there’s a pretty good offering on the table at the Kings Head Theatre.

Joe Eason (also writer and composer) plays Evan, an ex-con, living fairly hand-to-mouth in a sleepy rural town. But this all changes when his ex-boyfriend (Ben Maytham) returns back after a decade away, with a new life and family. It’s the perfect set-up for a simple 80-minute queer drama – a situation rarely explored in queer storytelling, which often feels focussed on, to put it simply, urban white young twinks. But in Two Come Home we are given a different view of queer lives – the lives we see less in the media.

And then come the side-plots. They come thick and fast, ranging from domestic abuse to alcoholism to drug addiction to imprisonment to internalised homophobia to comphet (compulsory heterosexuality). There’s a lot to deal with here. It wants to paint an intersectional view of how these factors impact everyday queer lives, and the relations between them. Unvarnished, unsweetened and unadorned, nothing is shied away from.

And so over the course of these 80 minutes, a play with music unfolds. We meet Evan’s abusive father, his alcoholic mother, a fairly useless police officer, and it all essentially goes where we think it will, complete with a Chekhov’s gun (and knife). And this is probably where Two Come Home falls down, with an undoubtedly passionate core (as writer-composer-lead actor, one might assume this is something of a passion project for Eason) but an uneven delivery throughout.

But at the core is a love story, and that’s what I took away from the show the most. The bits surrounding it – the alcoholism, the violence – don't necessarily need cutting, but needs fleshing out substantially. It’s as if it knows what it wants to say without knowing how to say it. Lines are spoken uncertainly, with a slightly obvious script that starts off with overly tick-box exposition (do we really need to watch monologues in which each theme is neatly described to us?). Supposed plot twists come along the way, exactly when and as expected. This all leads to an ending which, at its peak of quality becomes genuinely riveting and ties everything together neatly. Until it doesn’t, and suddenly veers off track, prompting a few (I assume unwanted) snickers from some audience members.

I don’t actually think those snickers were deserved. There’s a lot to really love here. At the midpoint of the play (it feels like a break between two acts, which this play certainly has the potential to have!) comes a totally heartfelt and beautiful love scene, which goes on for bordering on ten minutes but is absolutely justified throughout. Similarly, a gorgeous musical moment between the two leads, allowing the music to show their feelings rather than spoken lines, is an absolute treat.

I said before this is Joe Eason’s passion project, and as Evan, it’s pretty clear to see this. Gruff and cold, he reveals his softer side as the play goes on, complete with a gorgeously growling baritone. He seems to know his character best, giving a wonderfully multi-dimensional performance. But this is sadly not the case for the rest of the cast, who all seem a touch uncertain about who they are supposed to be. It gets a touch over-acted for my liking, drifting too close into exaggerated melodrama than the heartfelt romantic drama this could be.

Yet three other performers are on the stage – for in this play with music, there’s an entire (well, three-piece) band. They are truly excellent, bringing atmosphere aplenty and underscoring much of it. The country vibes are on point, almost cinematic at times. But along with that comes songs, intimately sung by Eason or the band’s onstage singer, Kirsten Obank-Sharpe, which left me questioning why there were so few. Were this a longer play, in two acts, with more music, I’d have been even more enthralled.

The trouble with Two Come Home is that it has a lot to say, without quite knowing how to say it. It wants to be a serious drama about poverty and queer life and domestic violence and a myriad of other sub-themes. And it has all the basic blocks right – a script full of heart and love, and an excellent central idea at its core. But it’s an early first draft of what could be a million times more beautiful than what it is right now.

I’m almost sad to give this three stars. It’s as if it comes so close so many times to being truly excellent, but each time just falters. Sometimes it only slips a tiny bit, sometimes it wobbles significantly (including an ending that is disappointingly flaccid). But on its journey there are some beautiful highlights, and I truly think there’s something here which, with some workshopping and development, has the potential to be something truly excellent indeed. It’s just not quite there yet.

Two Come Home plays at the Kings Head Theatre as part of the Camden Fringe until 18th August 2024, then at the Mercury Theatre Colchester. Tickets for Kings Head here: https://kingsheadtheatre.com/whats-on/two-come-home, and Colchester here: https://www.mercurytheatre.co.uk/event/colchester-fringe-24-two-come-home/

Photos by J. R. Dawson