Unqualified 2: Still Unqualified

Way back in COVID-free 2018, two actors reshaped their six-part TV series (that wasn’t going anywhere) into a dynamic play, Unqualified, about two women who start a temp agency with no extra employees. Bingo! Genevieve Hegney and Catherine Moore had a hit on their hands, along with the Ensemble’s Artistic Director Mark Kilmurry, who was first to spot the terrific twosome’s theatrical worth. Now, four years later, they’re Still Unqualified and raring to go.

‘The audience rose as one and cheered’, Stage Whispers declared in 2018, and it was much the same here on opening night, although the show hadn’t gone to plan. The lighting was out of sync with the fast-paced plan covering dozens of short scenes and soon the play was grinding to a halt. ‘Just a short break’, said a Front of House person, and we settled in for an extra half-hour. Red wine in plastic cups helped.

Such was the bond already created between actors and audience that we didn’t mind. In fact the play took off from there: perhaps the red wine helped. Whatever the cause, the show was an Unqualified success.

In scenes that lasted a few seconds to a few minutes our two women tried new careers that were doomed to failure, swapping computers as they progressed, all the time holding their opinions. There was nothing to split Hegney and Moore, changing costumes and opinions as they progressed: Hegney tall and striking, Moore shorter and in your face; both brilliant.

Just as sure-footed is director Janine Watson, looking for whatever is to be found in the pairing. The question is what to do next with all this excellent theatrical energy.

The show ends with both women in spangle-encrusted outfits busting the socks off Pat Benatar’s brilliant ‘We Belong’. The audience rose to them again.

Frank Hatherley

Photographer: Prudence Upton