Two-hander

Not to be confused with Two-handed (disambiguation).

A two-hander is a term for a play, film, or television programme with only two main characters.^[1] The two characters in question often display differences in social standing or experiences, differences that are explored and possibly overcome as the story unfolds.^[2][3] Instances of two-handers may include theatre, film, television episodes, television series, and radio.

The two characters Ben and Gus in Harold Pinter's The Dumb Waiter

Radio

• The Bickersons
• Ethel and Albert consisted mostly of two-handers.
• John Finnemore's Double Acts
• Vic and Sade^[a]

Television series

• Dinner for One (1963)^[b]
• Un gars, une fille (1997)
• Head Case (2007)
• Web Therapy (2008)
• In Treatment (2008)
• Roger & Val Have Just Got In (2010)

Television episodes

• Bottom: "Contest", "Culture", "Hole"
• Breaking Bad: "Fly"
• Brooklyn Nine-Nine: "The Box"
• Family Guy: "Brian & Stewie", "Send in Stewie, Please"
• Mad About You: "The Conversation"
• Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: "4,722 Hours"
• Neighbours: Episode 8052, Episode 8325
• Porridge: "A Night In"
• The Twilight Zone: "Two"

Theatre

• The Stronger (1889)
• Hughie (1942)
• The Fourposter (1951)
• Two for the Seesaw (1958)
• The Zoo Story (1959)
• The Dumb Waiter (1960)
• Happy Days (1961)
• The Blood Knot (1961)
• Dutchman (1966)
• I Do! I Do! (1966)
• Same Time, Next Year (1975)
• The Gin Game (1976)
• The Woods (1977)
• Talley's Folly (1980)
• Duet for One (1980, also filmed in 1986)
• Educating Rita (1980)
• Mass Appeal (1980)
• 'night, Mother (1982)
• The Woman in Black (1987)
• The Meeting (1987)
• Love Letters (1988)
• Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (1987)
• A Walk in the Woods (1988)
• The Secret of Sherlock Holmes (1988)
• Oleanna (1992)
• Lonely Planet (1993)
• John & Jen (1995)
• Stones in His Pockets (1996)
• The Blue Room (1998)
• Vincent River (2000)
• Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks (2001)
• The Last Five Years (2001)
• Topdog/Underdog (2001)
• A Number (2002)
• Adrenalin...Heart (2002)
• Tuesdays with Morrie (2002)
• The Sunset Limited (2006)
• The Story of My Life (2009)
• A Steady Rain (2007)
• The Mountaintop (2009)
• Red (2009)
• Venus in Fur (2010)
• Lungs (2011)
• In a Forest, Dark and Deep (2011)
• Tender Napalm (2011)
• Constellations (2012)
• Between the Sheets (2012)
• The Anarchist (2012)
• China Doll (2015)

Opera

• Love Counts (2005)

Film

• Heaven Knows, Mr Allison (1957)
• Dutchman (1966)
• Hell in the Pacific (1968)
• Sleuth (1972)
• Same Time, Next Year (1978)
• My Dinner with Andre (1981)
• Enemy Mine (1985)
• 'night, Mother (1985)
• The Caller (1987)
• Closet Land (1991)
• The Mozart Bird (1993)
• Oleanna (1994)
• Interview (2003)
• Before Sunset (2004)
• In Bed (2005)
• Conversations with Other Women (2005)
• Sleuth (2007)
• Interview (2007)
• Moon (2009)
• Venus in Fur (2013)
• The Sunset Limited (2011)
• 28 Hotel Rooms (2012)
• Some Velvet Morning (2013)
• Creep (2014)
• Blue Jay (2016)
• The Pass (2016)
• Love All You Have Left (2017)
• Destination Wedding (2018)
• The Lighthouse (2019)
• The Two Popes (2019)
• Friend of the World (2020)
• Malcolm & Marie (2021)
• Together (2021)
• Good Luck to You, Leo Grande (2022)
• 65 (2023)
• The Dive (2023)
• What Happens Later (2023)
• Daddio (2024)

Notes

1. 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.
2. Originally a 1934 theater sketch, this 18-minute videotape of one performance is rebroadcast every Christmas or New Year's in parts of Europe.^[4]