Christmas Eve, 2011
Do whatever it takes - beg, steal or borrow a ticket - but do not miss this play! Oh and do it quickly since this marvellous show moves to Broadway in April next year. It's a cornucopia of farce from beginning to end, witty and clever but also visually rich. There’s even a sharp-suited band interspersed between scenes.
Adapted and updated - to 1963 Brighton – by Richard Bean from the 1746 Commedia dell'arte classic, One Servant and Two Masters, by Carlo Goldoni, it stars James (Gavin and Stacey) Corden as the hapless go-between. The plot defies logic as is customary with farce, Corden caught between Rachel (Jemima Rooper) the disguised sister of her dead gangster brother and Stanley Stubbers (Oliver Chris), the “accidental” – he was stabbed three times – offender who just happens to be – you guessed it – the love of Rachel’s life. Corden is tossed about like a ship in a storm – “there's only so much tossing one man can take” he laments smirking, serving his two masters dinner simultaneously in the play’s iconic scene.
Bean and his Director, Nicholas Hytner, take their courage in their hands introducing an octogenarian waiter to this well-worn comic masterpiece. Thankfully it works, magnificently, Tom Edden’s bumbling, stumbling, trembling Alfie, surely in line for supporting actor of the year, his ability to fall vertically downstairs in the very best traditions of traditional, British farce.
Cordon is outstanding from his energy on the stage - his fight with himself one of the highlights of the play - "you wouldn't dare" he says to himself faced with a metal dustbin lid – to his interaction with the audience, a poor unsuspecting lady the unfortunate victim of both his charisma and his gags. Not only is Corden funny but he is sharp-witted and quick. When offered a humus sandwich by a man in the front row he shot back; “no wonder you’ve not eaten it” with barely a pause. But the power of the play is in the depth of the cast; Chris’s parody of a public schoolboy as funny as Corden himself; “Christian names are for girls and Norwegians” he says in all seriousness, Daniel Rigby’s wannabe actor, a thesaurus of stock theatrical phrases.
While the second half fails, not unreasonably, to hit the heights of the first, there is still much to enjoy. Broadway is surely in for a treat.
Consistently very funny and hilarious at times. 9/10. Happy New Year everyone! That’s it for 2011.
DM
December 2011
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