BWW Reviews: Playhouse Offers ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS - and Numerous Laughs

With its emphasis on improvisation, stock characters, and a genial carnival atmosphere, the Commedia dell' arte (dating back as early as the 16th century) has never had much appeal to me; I generally find the productions thumb-twiddling after a while. I certainly had my reservations about Playhouse on the Square's current production, ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS, adapted by British playwright Richard Bean from a 1743 play by Venetian Carlo Goldoni. However, as much as I cringe at the thought of a play written in this tradition, at the opposite end I am very much a fan of British humor at its silliest - from the 1930's and 40's comedies of Will Hay (who, at least in a number of films, utilized his own kind of stock company) to the sketches of Benny Hill and Rowan Atkinson's delightful MR. BEAN (and wasn't there a group called MONTY PYTHON?) That said, Mr. Bean's sublimely silly little take on the Goldoni play, removed in time and place to early 1960's Brighton, has a plot that bounces from corner to corner of the proscenium like a ping pong ball on Ritalin.

The oft-quoted "No man can serve two masters" certainly gets a workout in ONE MAN, namely in the person of the easily addled "Francis Henshall." The "masters" in this case mix like oil and water: one is "Stanley Stubbins," a dangerous criminal of the "white collar" variety; and the other is "Roscoe Crabbe," a homosexual thug from the local environs. However, we never really get to meet Roscoe, as Stanley has "accidentally" dispatched him with three stabs to the chest. The plot begins zig-zagging when we learn that the "Roscoe" here is none other than his twin sister "Rachel," who has disguised herself as her late brother. Further complicating matters is the fact that her lover is none other than - you guessed it - Stanley, who is responsible for the real Roscoe's demise. Yes, I know - don't even try to keep all this straight. Just throw up your hands, laugh, and give yourself over to the production.

The comedy here is very broad. If you're in the mood for Noel Coward or Bernard Shaw, you might has well leave your expectations at the entrance to the theatre. Moreover, unless you wish to be pulled into the vortex of the proceedings, I would advise you to choose a seat well removed from the front rows. That said, my advice is that you not concentrate too strongly on the dizzying plot devices, but relish, instead, the characters and situations that steadily broaden the grin and elicit the laughter (particularly in Act I - the latter half of the play can quite live up to the merriment that has preceded it).

Part of the problem is that Act I has a delicious ending - an extended scene in which a starving Francis, trying to feed the same courses to his two masters, chews everything in sight (including, I might add, the scenery); and though cherubic Cameron Reeves as "Francis" is clearly the front-and-center of the proceedings (and expending both energy and splendid comic timing), a scene-stealing Wesley Barnes takes it up a notch as a wobbly octogenarian waiter (he redefines gravity with some rather brilliant pratfalls).

Although ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS can hardly be classified as a musical, there are some clever songs (stemming, I imagine, from the spillover of old British music hall origins) by a group of mop-haired, Beatles-like youngsters (their names are even variations on that iconic group). While the musicians themselves are not as expert as those we are accustomed to hearing at Playhouse (and they probably are not intended to be), they are ingratiating in their youthful enthusiasm.

There are a number of performers making their initial appearance in a Playhouse production, and they are ably supported by a cast of veterans including a heavy-browed Dave Landis as "Charlie 'the Duck,'" Michael Gravois as a Latin-spouting barrister, and Marc Gill as the loyal "Lloyd." Among the fresh faces here are Julia Masotti as Charlie's "blonde joke"-of-a-daughter, Marek Zurowski as "Stanley Stubbers" (wait until you see that hirsute chest), Ellen Saba as the sister-posing-as-gay-late-brother, Madeline Glenn Thomas as the beehive-coiffed object of Francis' affections, and, in a role evoking the "angry young men" of late 1950's British theatre, a preening Devin Altizer. Indeed, ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS is a fine showcase for all this new talent. Director Stephen Hancock must have had great fun directing this loose and giddy production; the appropriately Commedia-style backdrops, in a set designed by Douglas Gilpin, emphasize the improvisatory nature of the production. Rebecca Y. Powell has designed the costumes with a wink in her eye - you'd think you were watching an old rerun of SHINDIG or HULLABALOO. Through October 12.