Please, for the love of William Shakespeare, if you do not like your theatrical experiences full of witty fast-moving dialogue and peppered with musical numbers (that will leave you humming for days), or simply have a distaste for the unbelievable slapstick, physical comedic hyjinx, and an occasional pre-scripted audience participation, then please do not go to Circle Theatre's production of One Man, Two Guvnors directed by Todd Avery.
It is just too painful to know that someone could end up with a ticket that is not into this style of humor and deprive someone else of this sure-to-sell-out theatrical comedy by Richard Bean.
Set in 1963's Brighton, England, the play is adapted from The Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni and tells the story of Francis Henshall who is determined to seize the optimism of the era right after he is sacked.
Finding work with a small-time gangster Roscoe Crabbe, he's sent to a town to collect a fee from his fiancée's gangster father. The twist (and not a spoiler since there is more) is that Roscoe is really Rachel, posing as her own dead brother; herself in love with Stanley Stubbers (her brother's killer) who, in turn, becomes our hero's other 'guvnor.'
“It should be easy as long as I don’t get confused,” Francis confides to the audience as he crashes the fourth wall.
He might get easily confused as the story rolls on, but you can fight off said confusion with actor Dylan Harris' fierce command of Francis' character as he weaves deftly through the cast, which includes Torrence O’Haire as Stanley, Chelsea Pummell as Rachel, Patrick MacLangs as Charley, Jason DeJager as Alfie, Michael Dodge as Harry, Marisa Purcey as Pauline, Brian Alford as Alan, Catie Berg as Dolly, Geoffrey Brian as Lloyd, and Chris Mahlmann as Gareth.
*If you hate having a laugh, then do not see One Man, Two Guvnors.
Admission: $25 (Season ticket pricing available, too.)
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