Maria Speight’s Two Strangers and a Clipboard is a work in progress with an ingenious premise, one that plays with the comedic aspects of a wonky authoritarian world that mirrors the social restraints of the one we live in. The scene is set in the courtroom reception area, where two strangers wait to attend a hearing before a judge. Sam (Gaby Coleman) is visibly distressed while attempting to fill in a questionnaire. Gary (Charlie Jennings Olivier), seated nearby, offers to help, but his assistance is firmly rejected.
While they wait to see the judge, we learn that both Gary and Sam were assigned the status of ‘Corpus’ at birth, a non-negotiable legal status that limits the professions available to them throughout their lives. Sam is deeply unhappy with this assignation and wishes to change her status from Corpus to ‘Creare’, which would allow her a career in the creative and humanitarian arts, while Gary’s concerns are not with his Corpus assignation, but with moral decisions about right and wrong.
A chaperone (Lucy Forker) is the court officer with a clipboard and a Bullhorn, who views Sam and Gary with disdain. She interrupts their conversations repeatedly with great comedic and ear-piercing effect.
Kimberley Ellis is the pragmatic Judge, bound by a points system that restricts her willingness to issue a compassionate response.
Two Strangers and a Clipboard is a play brimming with questions about moral obligations and injustice, wrapped in a highly comedic framework. Its four actors are sublime, but the comedy, while great for raucous laughter, at times obliterates the underlying seriousness of the piece. As a work in progress, it shows great promise. I look forward to seeing it again in the future.
Review by Loretta Monaco
Two Strangers and a Clipboard is a new comedy-drama that drops audiences into a world almost like ours. Except your identity is assigned by the day you’re born. When Sam and Gary, two strangers with nothing in common, find themselves in a court waiting room, a single tick on a clipboard could change the course of their lives.
Sam – Gaby Coleman
Gary – Charlie Jennings
Chaperone – Lucy Forker
Judge – Kimberley Ellis
Written by Maria Speight
TWO STRANGERS AND A CLIPBOARD
Etcetera Theatre
6 March 2026
