Two local actors will take on a unique challenge this weekend: performing more than a dozen parts in a single play between them.

Ames Community Theater will present a dinner theater performance of “Two,” an English play written by Jim Cartwright. The play takes place in a pub in Northern England, where the pub owners learn about life and love through the experiences of the customers entering the pub. The pub owners are a couple who bicker throughout the play, but Keith Wirtz, director of “Two,” says there is still a sense of tenderness to them.

“This is a theater piece that covers all the emotions to make an overall charming play,” Wirtz says.

Marty Ellenberger and Stacy Brothers play the 14 characters in “Two” under the direction of Wirtz. Both Ellenberger and Brothers won Excellence in Acting awards for their performances in “Two” at the American Association for Community Theater’s biennial contest last year.

“It’s been a pleasure to direct this play, because the talent is phenomenal and they are brilliant actors,” Wirtz says.

“Two” combines comedy and solemnity into one play, with witty humor between the pub owners, an old man talking to his dead wife and a little boy whose father forgot him at the pub.

“I enjoy theater that has an effect on somebody,” Ellenberger says.

“I saw a potential in ‘Two’ that might have a positive impact on someone in the audience to move and inspire them.”

Ellenberger and Brothers say one of the most challenging parts of “Two” was perfecting the many accents the characters have. All the characters are from northern England, but the dialects are very different from each other. The pair worked with a dialect coach to perfect the accents and watched the movie “The Full Monty” to achieve the ideal vocal tones.

“In England, the accents vary immensely from each other through the country,” Ellenberger says.

“It’s like driving to Marshalltown and having difficulties understanding the people there.”

Another challenge the actors worked through was playing 14 characters. “Two” was written as a play for two people to perform, with 14 characters ranging from seven to 70 years old. The costume changes are minimal and it’s up to the actors to quickly change in and out of character. This is Brothers’ fifth time performing as more than one character in a play, and he says he enjoys the challenge of perfecting each character’s distinctive quirks and habits.

“I really enjoy plays where I’m more than one character, because I get the chance to make each character believable and find those unique characteristics that each character possess,” Brothers says.

Although the main storyline of “Two” centers around the bickering bar couple and the mysterious tension that comes between them, in the end, they learn to understand each other and deal with the hidden issue from one enlightening night at their pub.

“This story is about love and the ties that bind,” Brothers says. “Love runs deep.”

What: “Two”

Where: ACTORS Studio, 120 Abraham Dr.

When: 6:30 p.m., Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday

Cost: $11 students, $12 public