Once again, my sincere thanks to Kyung-Sook for hosting, Rina for 'leading' and Margaret for providing an apparently fabulous Strawberry Gateaux last month!
In July we will be reading a well-known comedy and farce, which has toured the world and won many awards. It is an up-dating of Goldoni's classic Commedia dell'Arte work The Servant of Two Masters.
One Man, Two Guvnors by Richard Bean.
It’s 1963.
Fired from his skiffle band, Francis Henshall becomes minder to Roscoe
Crabbe, a small-time East End hood, now in Brighton to collect £6,000 from his
fiancée’s dad. But Roscoe is really his
sister Rachel posing as her own dead brother, who’s been killed by her
boyfriend Stanley Stubbers.
Holed up in The Cricketer’s Arms, the
permanently ravenous Francis spots the chance of an extra meal ticket and takes
a second job with Stanley Stubbers, who is hiding from the police and waiting
to be reunited with Rachel. To prevent
discover, Francis must keep his two guvnors apart. Simple.
In this highly acclaimed comedy, based on the
Commedia dell’Arte The Servant of Two
Masters by Carlo Goldoni, sex food and money are never far apart.
Characters:
- Francis Henshall
- Charlie Clench - Brighton based mobster
- Pauline Clench - Charlie's daughter, in love with Alan Dangle but engaged to Rosco.
- Dolly - Feminist bookkeeper of Charlie Clench
- Lloyd Boateng - Jamaican friend of Clench
- Harry Dangle - Crooked Rottingdean Solicitor
- Alan Dangle - Dangle's Son
- Rachel Crabbe - Sister of the deceased Rocco who we first meet disguised as her late brother
- Stanley Stubbers - Home Counties, privately educated boyfriend of Rachel Crabbe
Although already famous from his role in The History Boys, this play launched James Cordon's international career.
