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A two-hander is a term for a play, film, or television programme with only two main characters. The two characters in question often display differences in social standing or experiences, differences that are explored and possibly overcome as the story unfolds. Instances of two-handers may include theatre, film, television episodes, television series, and radio.

Theatre

• The Stronger (1889) by August Strindberg (also dramatic monologue)
• Pariah (1889) by August Strindberg
• Hughie (1942) by Eugene O'Neill
• The Fourposter (1951) by Jan de Hartog
• Two for the Seesaw (1958) by William Gibson
• The Zoo Story (1959) by Edward Albee
• The Dumb Waiter (1960) by Harold Pinter
• Happy Days (1961) by Samuel Beckett
• The Blood Knot (1961) by Athol Fugard
• Dutchman (1966) by LeRoi Jones
• I Do! I Do! (1966) by Tom Jones
• Same Time, Next Year (1975) by Bernard Slade
• The Gin Game (1976) by Donald L. Coburn
• The Woods (1977) by David Mamet
• Talley's Folly (1980) by Lanford Wilson
• Duet for One (1980, filmed in 1986) by Tom Kempinski
• Educating Rita (1980) by Willy Russell
• Mass Appeal (1980) by Bill C. Davis
• 'night, Mother (1982) by Marsha Norman
• Some Men Need Help (1982) by John Ford Noonan
• The Woman in Black (1987) by Stephen Mallatratt
• The Meeting (1987) by Jeff Stetson
• Love Letters (1988) by A. R. Gurney
• Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (1987) by Terrence McNally
• A Walk in the Woods (1988) by Lee Blessing
• The Secret of Sherlock Holmes (1988) by Jeremy Paul
• Oleanna (1992) by David Mamet
• Lonely Planet (1993) by Steven Dietz
• John & Jen (1995) by Andrew Lippa and Tom Greenwald
• Same Time, Another Year (1995) by Bernard Slade (sequel)
• Disco Pigs (1996) by Enda Walsh
• Stones in His Pockets (1996) by Marie Jones
• Vigil (1996) by Morris Panych
• The Blue Room (1998) by David Hare
• Freud's Last Session (1999) by Mark St. Germain
• Vincent River (2000) by Philip Ridley
• Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks (2001) by Richard Alfieri
• The Last Five Years (2001) by Jason Robert Brown
• Topdog/Underdog (2001) by Suzan-Lori Parks
• A Number (2002) by Caryl Churchill
• Adrenalin...Heart (2002) by Georgia Fitch
• Tuesdays with Morrie (2002) by Mitch Albom and Jeffrey Hatcher
• Matt & Ben (2002) by Mindy Kaling and Brenda Withers
• The Sunset Limited (2006) by Cormac McCarthy
• The Story of My Life (2009) by Neil Bartram and Brian Hill
• A Steady Rain (2007) by Keith Huff
• It Felt Empty When The Heart Went At First But It Is Alright Now (2009) by Lucy Kirkwood
• The Mountaintop (2009) by Katori Hall
• Red (2009) by John Logan
• Venus in Fur (2010) by David Ives
• Lungs (2011) by Duncan Macmillan
• In a Forest, Dark and Deep (2011) by Neil LaBute
• Tender Napalm (2011) by Philip Ridley
• Constellations (2012) by Nick Payne
• Between the Sheets (2012) by Jordi Mand
• The Anarchist (2012) by David Mamet
• The Velocity of Autumn (2013) by Eric Coble
• Sex With Strangers (2014) by Laura Eason
• China Doll (2015) by David Mamet
• Guards at the Taj (2015) by Rajiv Joseph
• A Case for the Existence of God (2022) by Samuel D. Hunter

Opera

• Love Counts 2005 by Michael Nyman and Michael Hastings

Film

• The African Queen (1951) by John Huston
• Heaven Knows, Mr Allison (1957) by John Huston
• Dutchman (1966) by Anthony Harvey
• Hell in the Pacific (1968) by John Boorman
• Sleuth (1972) by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
• Alpha Beta (1974) by Anthony Page
• Same Time, Next Year (1978) by Robert Mulligan
• My Dinner with Andre (1981) by Louis Malle
• Enemy Mine (1985) by Wolfgang Petersen
• 'night, Mother (1985) by Tom Moore
• The Caller (1987) by Arthur Allan Seidelman
• Closet Land (1991) by Radha Bharadwaj
• The Mozart Bird (1993) by Ian Kerkhof
• Oleanna (1994) by David Mamet
• Divertimento (2000) by José García Hernández
• Interview (2003) by Theo van Gogh
• Before Sunset (2004) by Richard Linklater
• Aislados (2005) by David Marqués
• In Bed (2005) by Matias Bize
• Conversations with Other Women (2005) by Hans Canosa
• Sleuth (2007) by Kenneth Branagh
• Interview (2007) by Steve Buscemi
• Moon (2009) by Duncan Jones
• Venus in Fur (2013) by Roman Polanski
• The Sunset Limited (2011) by Tommy Lee Jones
• 28 Hotel Rooms (2012) by Matt Ross
• Some Velvet Morning (2013) by Neil LaBute
• Committed (2014) by Stelana Kliris
• Creep (2014) by Patrick Brice
• Blue Jay (2016) by Alex Lehmann
• The Pass (2016) by Ben A. Williams
• Love All You Have Left (2017) by Matt Sivertson
• Destination Wedding (2018) by Victor Levin
• 7:20 Once a week (2018) by Matias Bize
• The Lighthouse (2019) by Robert Eggers
• The Two Popes (2019) by Fernando Meirelles
• Friend of the World (2020) by Brian Patrick Butler
• Malcolm & Marie (2021) by Sam Levinson
• Together (2021) by Stephen Daldry
• Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022) by Sophie Hyde
• 65 (2023) by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods
• The Dive (2023) by Max Erlenwein
• What Happens Later (2023) by Meg Ryan
• Daddio (2024) by Christy Hall

Television episodes

• All in the Family: "Two's a Crowd" (Season 8, Episode 19)
• Bottom:
  • "Contest" (Series 1, Episode 3)
  • "Culture" (Series 2, Episode 2)
  • "Hole" (Series 3, episode 1)
• Breaking Bad: "Fly" (Season 3, Episode 10)
• Brooklyn Nine-Nine: "The Box" (Season 5, Episode 14)
• Brookside:
  • Episode 1103 (29 May 1992)
  • Episode 2432 (23 May 2001)
  • Episode 2570 (19 August 2001)
• Coronation Street:
  • Episode 4745a (2 January 2000)
  • Episode 6519 (25 March 2007)
• Dinner for One (1963) by Lauri Wylie, one of the most frequently repeated TV programmes ever
• EastEnders two-hander episodes
• Emmerdale:
  • Episode 2754 (28 September 2000), featuring Paddy Kirk and Mandy Dingle
  • Episode 3143 (28 March 2002), featuring Bernice Blackstock and Ashley Thomas
  • Due to the COVID-19 pandemic causing a temporary shutdown of production, Emmerdale filmed five two-hander episodes featuring the characters during lockdown, with original storylines resuming once production restarted. These episodes aired on: 8 June 2020 (episode 8800A) featuring Sam and Lydia Dingle, 10 June 2020 (episode 8800B) featuring Cain and Aaron Dingle, 15 June 2020 (episode 8800D) featuring Vinny and Mandy Dingle, 17 June 2020 (episode 8800C) featuring Jimmy and Nicola King and 22 June 2020 (episode 8800E) featuring Chas Dingle and Paddy Kirk, .
• Fair City: Episode (19 April 2017), featuring then-married couple Paul and Niamh
• Family Guy:
  • "Brian & Stewie" (Season 9, Episode 17)
  • "Send in Stewie, Please" (Season 16, Episode 12)
• Four Star Playhouse: "Award" (Season 3, Episode 38)
• Home and Away: Episode 6361 (15 February 2016), featuring Ricky Sharpe and Darryl Braxton
• Mad About You: "The Conversation" (Season 6, Episode 9)
• Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: "4,722 Hours" (Season 3 episode 6)
• Maude:
  • "Maude's Night Out" (Season 1, Episode 22)
  • "The Convention" (Season 1, Episode 14)
• Miranda: "Just Act Normal" (Series 2, Episode 5), featuring Miranda and Penny in a therapy session following an unfortunate incident involving ice cream, a policeman, a teacher and their 30 pupils
• Neighbours:
  • Episode 8052 (5 March 2019), featuring Toadfish Rebecchi and Sonya Rebecchi in which the latter dies from cancer
  • Episode 8325 (23 March 2020), featuring Susan Kennedy and Finn Kelly, who chooses Susan as his next victim.
  • Episode 9164 (16 December 2024), featuring Terese Willis and Paul Robinson, culminating in their romantic reunion.
• One Foot in the Grave, series 2 episode 6, Timeless Time (15 November 1990), featuring only Victor Meldrew (Richard Wilson) and Margaret Meldrew (Annette Crosbie) trying to get to sleep in bed at night.
• Please Like Me: "Scroggin'" (Series 2, Episode 7), featuring Josh (Josh Thomas) and Rose (Debra Lawrance) hiking through the woods following the suicide of their friend. Thomas won an AACTA Award for Best Screenplay in Television for writing the episode and Lawrance won an AACTA Award for Best Performance in a Television Comedy for her portrayal of Rose. The episode also received accolades from both the Australian Writer's Guild and Australian Directors Guild.
• Porridge: "A Night In" (Series 1, Episode 3)
• The Twilight Zone: "Two" (Season 3, Episode 1), featuring Elizabeth Montgomery and Charles Bronson

Television series

• Un gars, une fille (1997) by Guy A. Lepage
• Head Case (2007) by Alexandra Wentworth
• Web Therapy (2008) by Lisa Kudrow
• In Treatment (2008) by Rodrigo Garcia
• Roger & Val Have Just Got In (2010) by Dawn French

Radio

• The Bickersons
• Ethel and Albert consisted mostly of two-handers.
• John Finnemore's Double Acts
• Just Molly and Me was a two-hander sequel to Fibber McGee and Molly.
• Vic and Sade began as a two-hander series and often returned to the format after a third character was added when one of the three took a day off.

References

1. "Slanguage Dictionary Results - Two-hander". Variety. Retrieved 19 June 2008.
2. Wolcott, James (6 September 2010). "Crouching Duck, Hidden Draper: Mad Men Season 4, Episode 7". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
3. ^ Caption for still from William Gibson’s play "Two for the Seesaw." Photo credit Arthur Cantor; from "Looking Back at Arthur Penn" slide show; The New York Times, September 30, 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-04.
4. "A Walk in the Woods". Playbill. 1988.
5. Stasio, Marilyn (30 September 2009). "Vigil".
6. Gardner, Lyn (20 October 2009). "It Felt Empty When the Heart Went at First But It Is Alright Now - Theatre review". the Guardian.
7. "it felt empty when the heart went at first but it is alright now - Drama Online". www.dramaonlinelibrary.com.
8. "Lucy Kirkwood interview: 'I worry a lot about the things I write'". 23 July 2013.
9. "What's On: Between the Sheets", Nightwood Theatre
10. "Dramatists Play Service, Inc". www.dramatists.com.
11. "Here's what everybody had to say about Fair City's explosive episode". 20 April 2017.
12. Kilkelly, Daniel (16 December 2024). "Neighbours confirms Paul and Terese outcome in latest episode". Digital Spy. Retrieved 17 December 2024.

• Drama
• Two-handers