One Man, Two Guvnors

Based on The Servant With Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni, author Richard Bean's comedy masterpiece is a wickedly funny seaside farce set in Brighton in 1963.

Charlie ‘the duck’ Clench played by Peter Walters was very well cast in the role, very watchable and likeable. Good performance.

Pauline Clench played by Victoria Lowry was the dumbest of dumb blondes, nicely played without going over the top. Strong performance.

Harry Dangle played by Martyn Lewis gave a good performance, although a smaller role, did well to establish his character of the eloquent latin-quoting ‘not so ethical solicitor’.

Alan Dangle played by Paul Smith portrayed the lovable actor with ease, always keen to demonstrate his aspiration to be a thespian. Strong performance.

Dolly played by Doireanne Gilmore was perfectly bossy and flirtatious, her character early on which allowed the audience to love her from the start. Good diction and comic timing.

Lloyd Boateng played by Ralph Lee the friend of the Clenches and the landlord of the pub. good characterisation, clear diction, solid performance.

Francis Henshall played by Mike Freeman brought some terrific gifts to the table to make him the right guy for this mammoth part. He worked the audience to perfection, involving them at times to great comic effect.

Rachel Crabbe played by Flora Kerridge worked really hard masquerading as her dead brother Roscoe. This is a difficult part to play as the character must be believable as a male, accomplished beautifully. Strong performance, good diction.

Stanley Stubbers played by Adam James Jon Foster had all the characters of the posh public school boy gone bad, full of ebullience. This actor understood the writers intentions for the role and its intended humour. A great performance, consistently (and very appropriately) over the top.

Alfie played by Trystan Davies gave a strong performance, his physical comedy was excellent and so well executed.

The main cast was supported by a strong supporting cast.

The set had been well designed to cope with the many and varied changes of venue, with some scenery permanently fixed, The lighting was effective and simple.

As a whole I thought the production needed more pace, the lengthy change of scenes lost the audience attention. This minor gripe aside, this was another good performance I’ve come to expect from this talented theatre company.

 

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