A
SERVANT TO TWO MASTER by Carlo Goldoni
Adapted by Lee Hall
Venue: Milton Keynes 2000
Company: Young Vic/Royal Shakespeare Company
Directed by Tim Supple
Adapted by Lee Hall
Venue: Milton Keynes 2000
Company: Young Vic/Royal Shakespeare Company
Directed by Tim Supple
Cast
| SILVIO | Sendhil Ramamurthy |
| PANTALOON | Paul Bentall |
| CLARICE | Niky Wardley |
| DR LOMBARDI | Sam Dastor |
| SMERALDINA | Catherine Tate |
| BRIGH ELLA | Rod Arthur |
| TRUFFALDINO | Jason Watkins |
| BEATRICE | Rachel Sanders |
| FLORINDO | Steve Toussant |
| WAITER PORTERS |
Susanna Northern Patrick Marlowe Graeme Eton |
Review
Covent Garden Life: Marion Cotter
On transfer to the Albery theatre St Martin's Lane
What's a chap to
do if he gets lousy pay and not so much as a sniff of a hot dinner?
Take a second job of course - and to hell with the consequences!
Such is the view of happy-go-lucky Truffaldino, hilarious hero of Goldoni's 1743 Venetian farce A Servant to Two Masters. Liberally adapted by Lee Hall (giving us a script peppered with salty swear words and references to spotted dick), it's now more of an adult panto than a period piece.
The hapless Truffaldino - a cockney rascal who lives on his wits - bounces from one scrape to another as he finds himself inadvertantly working not just for lovelorn Beatrice (disguised as a man), but for her lost lover Florindo. Naturally enough, the star-crossed pair check into the same inn for the night and double entendres are soon falling thick and fast.
At times balletic, cheeky and bruisingly funny, Jason Watkins gives us a masterly Truffaldino who is both comic and entertaining. The scene when he serves up a five-course dinner to both bosses - pirouetting from one room to another while surreptitiously filling his face in bowls of pasta - is a triumph of razor-sharp timing and innuendo.
Watkins' star turns - milking the play's slapstick potential with some generous ad-libbing - are backed by a uniformly strong cast. A hugely enjoyable night out and a welcome return to the West End.
Such is the view of happy-go-lucky Truffaldino, hilarious hero of Goldoni's 1743 Venetian farce A Servant to Two Masters. Liberally adapted by Lee Hall (giving us a script peppered with salty swear words and references to spotted dick), it's now more of an adult panto than a period piece.
The hapless Truffaldino - a cockney rascal who lives on his wits - bounces from one scrape to another as he finds himself inadvertantly working not just for lovelorn Beatrice (disguised as a man), but for her lost lover Florindo. Naturally enough, the star-crossed pair check into the same inn for the night and double entendres are soon falling thick and fast.
At times balletic, cheeky and bruisingly funny, Jason Watkins gives us a masterly Truffaldino who is both comic and entertaining. The scene when he serves up a five-course dinner to both bosses - pirouetting from one room to another while surreptitiously filling his face in bowls of pasta - is a triumph of razor-sharp timing and innuendo.
Watkins' star turns - milking the play's slapstick potential with some generous ad-libbing - are backed by a uniformly strong cast. A hugely enjoyable night out and a welcome return to the West End.