Play for study: Two Faces

Two Faces by Manon Steffan Ros is a poignant play which focuses on issues surrounding online relationships and what we choose to reveal about ourselves to others, virtually or otherwise.

Two Faces was first published in 2016 and takes a contemporary setting. Ros's plot centres on the budding online relationship between teenagers, Elen and Sam, alongside Elen's mum, Mai, who is also venturing into internet dating. As the play unfolds, it becomes clear not all is quite as it seems. Sam's dialogue is carefully laced with hints building to a revelation in the final scene: Sam is not a 17-year old boy, but Mai's (online) love interest, a middle-aged married man named Ellis. At the end of the play, Ros leaves us with the haunting image of an unsuspecting Elen going to meet the man she thinks is Sam for the first time.