Two Sisters: Scotland’s new ‘melancholy comedy’ stage show set in a seaside holiday park

When David Greig started writing a brand new play, the inspiration came from his own memories of Scotland’s seaside holiday parks.

He was recuperating in bed after a mild stroke as the story of two sisters returning to their “childhood paradise” took shape.

At that stage, Greig insists he was merely writing the story every day to “cheer myself up.”

But he ended up with a “melancholy comedy” looking back on what it is like to be a teenager versus the painful realities involved in growing up.

Nearly a decade on from having the original idea, Greig’s play is finally being brought to life in the rehearsal studio of the Royal Lyceum, the Edinburgh theatre where he is artistic director.

And the two characters which kept Greig entertained in his sick bed are now in the hands of two of Scotland’s leading stage and screen stars – who just happen to be long-time friends.

Jess Hardwick and Shauna Macdonald play Emma and Amy, whose trip back to the fictional “Holiday Heaven” park – and a reunion with former DJ turned caretaker Lance (played by Swedish actor Erik Olsson) – sees them face up to their pasts as well as how they are living their current lives.

Added to the mix of Two Sisters, which runs from February 10 till 2 March, are a revolving cast of teenagers holidaymakers – who make their own observations in the background.

The origins of Two Sisters and its “chorus” can be traced back to The Events, Greig’s acclaimed play about a deadly shooting, which was prompted by the summer camp massacre in Norway and featured a choir in each performance.

Greig says: "After The Events, I was doing workshops on the idea of a play with a chorus of young people. Out of nowhere a scene emerged between two sisters. One of them was thinking of buying a caravan in the holiday park they used to go to as kids.

“These two women started talking to me as if they were real. They were really making me laugh the way they talked to each other. The older sister was a bit in trouble and in disgrace, and living a bit of a dissolute life. The younger one, who was more successful, was the one who wanted to buy the caravan."

Two Sisters unfolds over the course of a weekend at Holiday Heaven, instigated by younger sister Emma, who is married, is in the early stages of pregnancy and is planning to take refuge there to try to get a first novel off the ground.

But things change with the unexpected arrival of her troubled older sister, Amy, who has suddenly left home after being caught having an affair, only for her to be confronted with memories of a teenage relationship.

Hardwick, who plays Emma, said: “The two sisters are polar opposites. Emma is a bit of a romantic, but is stuck in quite a corporate lifestyle and a relationship that’s quite safe and secure. At her core, she would love to be a writer so has gone away to escape life and explore her creativity. She really fantasises about what her life could have been like.

“The story is a reflection on where we are in our adult lives, but also on what we were like when we were younger, how life has shaped us, changed us and pulled us in different directions, and the possibilities if we’d made other decisions.

"You can almost see the ghosts of your younger selves, the things you wish you’d done and your regrets, but also the things you could have maybe told yourself. It’s a real exploration of growing up, relationships, family and the choices we make in life.”

Macdonald said: “Amy is quite a chaotic person and very flawed in lots of ways. She's always seeking adventure but has now reached the age of 43, she is dissatisfied, unhappy and probably quite lonely.

"I guess the play is about the difference between the choices you make with your adult brain and the choices you make when your brain is still developing which allow you to access huge emotions.

“Those feelings you have when you’re young are so strong and intense. Amy has this lovely speech about how you can take feelings like that when you’re 16, but they’d burn right through you when you grow up. You block your teenage heart up in concrete until you don’t recognise it anymore."

Greig said: "I wrote the whole story sat in bed over the course of a week. I really did it to cheer myself up but also because I liked listening to these women.

"It’s about who we were when we were 16, who we thought we would be when we grew up, how that compares to how we actually are, and what makes us and shapes us.

"You can’t help but disappoint yourself when you grow up. I think the melancholy comedy aspect of it will make most sense and really hit home if you are past a certain age.

“Jess and Shauna have just made the material their own. I didn’t know this before we cast them, but they’ve known each other for a decade and are actually a bit like sisters. They really make it plausible."

More than 40 drama students at Fife College and Edinburgh College will play the teenage holidaymakers.

Macdonald says: “I run Edinburgh Youth Theatre and I just love it. There’s something special about working alongside young people. They are fresh faced, life hasn’t got them yet. They are so open and willing. The whole process of making the play has actually reflected the themes of the play.

"It’s dynamic, fun, sexy, sad and full of big emotions. That’s what teenagers live all the time. When they see it on stage I’m sure they’ll love it."

Hardwick adds: “The young characters are almost like a Greek chorus, watching us all the time and reflecting on what is happening. They have all their lives ahead of them, whereas our characters have really been moulded by life.

"I think people could come as a family and have really different experiences watching it. No matter what stage of life people are at, there will be something they recognise in it. It will be so interesting to hear how different people are affected.”