TWO ACROSS / A Spoken Opera is an intricate music theatre piece that explores the tension between watching and being watched. Set in a living room overlooking an apartment complex across the street, the story follows two women who have not left their home in five months for reasons left unspoken. Dressed in mismatched layers of fancy dress, they speak only to each other, communicating in a language that feels almost like a game. Their gaze is endlessly drawn to the world outside, where the neighbours, the quarrelling couple with a parakeet known as “Two to the Left, Street Level Parakeet,” and a suspicious van become recurring characters in their isolated ritual.

The dialogue of Two Across unfolds like an unfinished melody, where repetition of words and phrases creates rhythmic patterns, reminiscent of a techno beat or a pop melody, but never fully formed. These rhythmic choices, driven not by meaning but by the sound of the words and even the letters themselves, weave into layers that overlap, intertwine, and flow.

Two Across is the second part of a trilogy of plays. The first part, Three Exhale, was performed in 2023 at the Sandberg Institute as part of the Re:master Opera program. The third part, One A Lot, is yet to be written, with plans to present the entire trilogy as one unified work in the future. Through this series, Amanda Payne delves into themes of grief, fear, and guilt within the absurd, inviting audiences to experience the musicality of spoken language and to reflect on the complexities of voice.

“This is ‘crazy shit’… strange and fascinating. Unmistakably an O. performance: is a new genre born with this spoken opera?” – Hans Blik, business director O.