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THE SERVANT OF TWO MASTERS by Carlo Goldoni
Adapted and staged by Martin Duncan and Ultz
Venue: Richmond 1982
Company: Cambridge Theatre Company



Cast
Truffaldino - Ian Bartholomew
Steven Beard
Bob Critchley
Anita Dobson
Martin Duncan
Elizabeth Estensen
Geoffrey Freshwater
Bob Goody
Billy Hartman
Darlene Johnson
Terry Molloy
Patrick Mower
David Prescott
Ken Shorter
Roger Tebb

Review
Designs by Ultz for this Cambridge Theatre Company production make it first and foremost one of visual wit and Goldoni’s satire on the absurdities of the foppish society of eighteenth century Venice, told as Commedia dell’Arte burlesque, gives Ultz a generous designer’s licence. In three-dimensional form he produces the effect of accentuating the spirit of a character by extension and emphasis like a practised cartoonist, only he does it with the choice of fabric, the cut of a jacket, the exact drop or lift of frills on a dress, the line of a wig, and the colour of a painted face. The settings for these animated cartoons are a mixture of economy and detail. Flat, plain-painted screens sliding in from the wings in classic style are contrasted with the rococo billows and curls of a gold filigree sign to the entrance of Mr Pantelone’s house or the ornate, gilded statues at the foot of a staircase. The statues, incidentally, are live actors in pose of frozen stillness.

In fact the whole extravaganza is one visual tableau after another and herein lies the flaw in the production for the emphasis on stylisation slows down the action of the play so that, like Miss Clarice’s dress, its ribs begin to show beneath the frills and furbelows. Like a Feydeau farce this bubble of nonsense requires speed to keep it alive but here the actors are forced to play long follow-through strokes of mannerisms and poses to match the detailed creations of their costumes. In this battle of wit it is generally the designer who wins, with notable exception of Ian Bartholomew’s acrobatic Truffaldino.

Martin Duncan’s music has the same quality of impish fun but again too many songs slow down the action of the plot and though it is a clever touch to turn the orchestra pit into the kitchen of the hotel, with the Italian band exchanging badinage with the cast and audience like the trattoria on a busy night, it’s an atmosphere of bonhomie which the play can’t sustain.