Ernest Hemingway’s only play is of interest chiefly because of its source and its setting. Judged purely as drama, it is a rambling affair, which is hardly surprising since Hemingway wrote it while holed up in a Madrid hotel in 1937 at the height of the Spanish civil war.
The action mostly takes place in Madrid’s regularly bombarded Hotel Florida, where the autobiographical hero, Philip Rawlings, is suffering a crisis of conscience. He is torn between his work as a counter-espionage agent, dedicated to interrogating fifth columnists working for General Franco’s forces, and his palpable attraction to Dorothy Bridges, a fellow hotel resident and war correspondent whose character is based on Martha Gellhorn.
But Philip’s internal conflict never comes to theatrical life for two reasons. One is that he clearly prefers bars and bravado to a settled life with Dorothy whom he bluntly informs: “I don’t love you in the daytime.” The other is that Philip never tells Dorothy about his covert activities while condemning her as “a damned fool”. The result is rather like a misogynist version of that old melodrama, The Scarlet Pimpernel.
The play is at its best when it deals directly with the civil war. Tricia Thorns’s production for Two’s Company vividly conveys the stresses of life in a besieged city thanks to Alex Marker’s meticulous set, Dominic Bilkey’s booming sound design and some good performances. Although he slightly overplays the hero’s restlessness, Simon Darwen captures well Hemingway’s own brand of macho bravura, and Alix Dunmore suggests Dorothy is a far more complex character than the pampered parasite of Philip’s description. The play has one or two moments of real passion, such as their anguished parting, but it feels like a minor work by a major writer.
• At Southwark Playhouse, London, until 16 April. Buy tickets at theguardianboxoffice.com or call 0330-333 6906.
