Camden Fringe 2025
Two Cowboys Get Stuck In A Well
Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club
Genre: Dark Comedy, Feminist Theatre, LGBTQ+, LGBTQIA+, New Writing, Theatre
Venue: Rosemary Branch Theatre
Festival: Camden Fringe
Low Down
Two Cowboys Get Stuck In A Well understands the art of locking two compelling characters in a room (or in this case a well) and seeing the dramatic queer action that unfolds. This young team of creatives have an excellent future ahead of themselves in fringes to come.
Review
12:30 P.M. One and a half hours before showtime. I get a DM from the director of Two Cowboys Get Stuck In A Well asking to review their show last-minute. We had already chatted some about our respective works at this year’s Camden Fringe. I expressed dismay I may not be able to make Two Cowboys Get Stuck In A Well because of my own hectic schedule that day. Ultimately, however, I said “screw it” and rushed an hour over to the Rosemary Branch theatre to catch the show. Only upon arrival to find out I would be the sole audience member in attendance. This, of course, sends panic through the mind of any audience member, let alone reviewer. Why is there nobody here? This show has an intriguing premise, does it not? Is the 2pm time slot simply unviable on a weekday? Is the show… well… sh*t? And where’s the exit for if I need to dash because I hated it? Because, let me tell you dear reader, I cannot lie when someone asks me if I liked their show and I very much did not. My face and body really cannot lie about how I feel. However, I am pleased to report that Two Cowboys Get Stuck In A Well is in fact, not sh*t, but a pleasant hidden gem of character drama.
As the lights dim, the soft cool air-conditioning of the Rosemary Branch Theatre immediately sends a chill into my body. The actors enter. Drawing chalk on the floor, they entrap themselves in the playing space. The drama begins. The two cowboys do not speak for the first ten minutes or so, allowing their mutual hatred, fear of the other, and the reality of the situation to settle in through physicality alone. It’s a wonderfully done introduction which sets a tense atmosphere for what is to come. Atmosphere is something which this production has in abundance. A echoing soundscape rings throughout and only a few lights dimly light the actors throughout.
The crux of the play is two cowboys, big iron Clay Hudson and potentially criminal Wyatt Buck, are stuck at the bottom of a well after a fight. They’re both incapacitated and stuck with seemingly no hope to escape. As the action progresses, we begin to understand who these cowboys are and the ongoing horrors of a smallpox plague happening outside the well. Writer and director Lucy Molnar understands how to extract a significant amount of drama out of such a simple premise. They do not need much of anything to make this premise work except some chalk, dim lighting, and a few props. The duo of performers Mia Urwin and Nadia Lines stay committed throughout and play delicately between hatred and intimacy. Like a lion and a wolf trapped in a cage or a tiger and a man stuck on a boat, there is a palpable tension that arises from two well-written characters locked in a room (or at the bottom of a well). The dialogue is tense, cautious, and thought-provoking.
My criticism of the show is that the plot amounts to little thematic revelation. There are so many intriguing parallels to the world today. The well has several metaphors: isolationism, safe spaces, and COVID lockdowns to name a few. The smallpox scars on Clay Hudson and Wyatt Buck’s feared reaction to them rings to the trauma of AIDS. An escape from the well is likewise an obvious metaphor for queer hope, that if they should survive, the outside world might not be any better for either. Yet, these metaphoric threads and thought points do not come to completion. More emphasis on the disastrous outside situation, the queer repression of the men, and the direness of their situation would serve the play well in driving its dramatic tension. The ending, while hopeful, does not quite yet reach its gunshot crescendo. On a smaller note, the actors accents did occasionally veer off from traditional Southern accent, particularly with words with -ife or -r sounds. Then again, like Americans failing a British accent, I have yet to see a Brit do a Southern accent correctly.
That said, a hidden gem is a work which may not be perfect. It’s a diamond in the rough. A work which is of decent quality but for one reason or another has been overlooked. These young creatives deserve more attention and praise, not a single humble reviewer watching. While it was not perfect, they deserve the standing ovation I gave them at the end. Despite any flaws, they went ahead. They performed a show clearly well-rehearsed, well-written, and well-directed. Too often, as both a reviewer and lover of theatre, I have sat through shows that are full of audiences and anger me with how dreadful they are. Then, for intriguing and important work like this to be overlooked, it is frustrating and disheartening. But one person or a hundred, these performers gave the same great performance they would to anyone and were happy to do it. If that isn’t the spirit of fringe, of theatre, I do not know what is. Do yourself a favor and support these artists in the wonderful work they’re doing. After all… who doesn’t love gay cowboys?
