In Two Minds at the Traverse Theatre – Edinburgh Fringe review

Few figures have obtained Fringe legend status (Tim Crouch, Phoebe Waller-Bridge or the young man dressed as a gorilla, dressed as an old man) perhaps. Theatre company Fishamble have certainly done enough to earn their place on the podium – with four Fringe First Awards and an Olivier to their name.

The company returns now with Joanne Ryan’s piece In Two Minds, already an award-winner after the production’s appearance in the Dublin Theatre Festival last autumn. Following a mother forced to stay with her daughter while her house is being renovated, it plays out on a simple apartment bedroom set, decked out by designer Alyson Cummins like something from Søstrene Grene.

The most beautiful moments in In Two Minds come during the show’s simplest decisions – one slow, haunting passage sees performer Pom Boyd crawl out from underneath a bedsheet- a spectral waif almost devoid of tangibility. The gradual, almost imperceptible impact of mental ill health on familial relationships is a great topic to discuss – especially as the role of parent and child begin to transform. 

But for the most part this feels staid – and two resolutely amiable performances courtesy of Boyd and Karen McCartney, capturing the lilting back-and-forth between older parent and middle-aged child, cannot salvage much from uninspired direction, protracted set changes (though admittedly the way the mother’s household items are slowly cast around the set like detritus is an interesting move) or unconvincingly structured scenes that almost feel afraid to alight on specific actions or moments. There is a beguiling purity to the ideas bubbling beneath the play – they simply never really coalesce into a riveting stage experience.  

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