One Man, Two Guvnors

ONE Man, Two Guvnors by Richard Bean is a glorious farce set in the 1960s .This is an English adaptation of “Servant of Two Masters”, the 1743 Commedia dell’arte style comedyby the Italian playwright, Carlo Goldoni and it is extremely funny.   The action centres on Francis Henshall as he tries to keep his two guvnors from meeting.  One of his guvnors is an upper-class twit and the other a young woman disguised as her dead twin brother.   But there is much more to it than that.

The various settings such as Clench’s house, the pub, the pier etc were skilfully created with minimum disruption between scenes.  The props were excellent and numerous, especially the food used for the dining scene and well used by the cast.  The costumes were excellent, carefully planned, giving each character their own individuality and great attention had been paid to make-up and hair thus complementing the costumes.  The lighting was, on the whole, effective and well controlled. However, occasionally the lighting seemed a little dark and patchy. 

The production was full of larger than life characters led by Will Pomfrey as the one man of the title.  He was perfect in a spectacularly funny way as the always hungry Francis Henshall and his improvised conversations with the audience gave the evening a panto feel.   His energy levels and exuberance were breath-taking.    Joe Forsey was first class as Alan who’s intended overacting was hugely appealing.  Josh Day was spot on as Stanley Stubbers and very watchable.  The whole production was packed with wonderfully visual gags and running jokes such as Australia and opera.   So much happened I found it hard to follow the plot due to my laughter, but the doddery waiter with the pacemaker, the ‘steps’ down to the cellar and the tongue twisting alliteration were memorable highlights.  The essential characterisation was well developed and each character maintained their persona throughout.  There were no weak links in this excellent production.  The design, the direction by Tom Tollyfield, and the performers provided the audience with an evening of entertainment of the highest possible standard.

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