One Man Two Guvnors

On arrival at the Theatre I was handed the tickets, after a little searching.    But I had to ask to be provided with a programme.  That was the last contact I had from any member associated with the company for the rest of the evening apart from a polite 'goodnight' when leaving.  I would have loved to have got some background with regards to the show. 

I have not seen this play, a rewrite of Carlo Goldoni's "The Servant of Two Masters".  The pay opened with an assortment of characters assembled in a living room.  Pauline Clench (Stephanie Firth) is daughter of Charlie Clench (Vic Gray) and she wants to marry Alan Dangle (Chris Foale).   He is a wannabe actor and son of Harry Dangle (Martyn Williams) the Charlie’s lawyer.  This is despite the fact that her father has arranged her engagement to Roscoe, one of a pair of Dizygotic twins, who has been killed by Stanley Stubbers (Luke Coldham) Rachel Crabbe's (Louise Alsop) boyfriend.  (Are you with me so far?)    Rachel brings Roscoe back to life by disguising herself as her dead twin brother.  Enter Francis Henshall (Sean Hynes) who works for Roscoe.  He has one guvnor but then he meets Stanley in a pub and agrees to work for him too, Francis now has two guvnors.  The other characters Dolly Clench (Victoria Grayling), Lloyd Boateng (Michael McFarlane) Gareth (Wayne Prince) and the Taxi driver/Barman (Dave Carey) are obviously all integral to the plot.  This all ends up happy, of course, but to be honest I didn't care about the rest of the plot, I so enjoyed the journey. 

The whole evening was a riot, although the first scene seemed slow in pace it certainly did not prepare me for the brake neck speed of the rest of the play.  With pantomime style slapstick, running gags throughout and audience participation this was undoubtedly one of the best plays I have seen for a long time, not only in the writing of Richard Bean but in the staging, acting, props and costumes from the Thurrock Court Players.

A very strong cast with everybody playing their parts to perfection including the 'plants' in the audience, well done.  The people that stood out for me were Sean Hynes as Francis, the man with two bosses whose character, comic timing and interaction with the audience was impeccable and Josh Handley as Alfie, who, despite being in his early twenties, played the octogenarian waiter flawlessly, he had the mannerisms, facial expressions and gait of a person that age, and this was sustained throughout the play.  Both these actors had to work extremely hard, but I am sure that they relished every moment.  The play ended in a company song under the musical direction of Luke Coldham which was equally as strong as the rest of the play, which was directed by Eric James assisted by Mike Jones.

A great night out, again well done to all concerned.

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