So, what to make of a show that includes a fight scene involving
— among other things — Stan Laurel, Charlie Chaplin and a vicious
stuffed puppy dog?
That’s just a sample of the goofiness that pervades
Richard Bean‘s “One Man, Two
Guvnors,” which opened last weekend at the Seattle
Center Armory under the auspices of Sound Theatre
Company and the direction of Ken Michels.
Physical comedy, Anglo-snark, double entendre and sexual innuendo
all abound, sometimes seeming to compete for laughs in what comes
off as an old-school British music-hall romp on Judd Apatow
steroids.
It’s one of those shows that doesn’t even pretend to be
plausible. Bean’s account of Brighton buffoonery — an adaptation of
“The Servant of Two Masters,” Carlo Goldoni’s 18th-century Commedia
dell-arte comedy re-set in England in 1963, just as the Beatles are
poised to get fab — simply lays down a gauntlet and invites
audiences to try — just try — to keep up in what is essentially a
skit-sized plot fleshed out to a generous two acts with funny
business.
If it doesn’t make sense, you’ll be too busy laughing for it to
matter.
What plot there is centers ar
ound Francis (a
brilliantly locomotive David Roby (pictured at
left), a comic force of nature who’ll burn through a double order
of fish ‘n chips nightly), who’s cast his lot with not one,
b
ut two bosses —
“Guvnors” — and attempts to keep his respective responsibilities
sorted out while also trying (initially) to fill his belly and
(secondarily) fulfill his libido.
One guvnor is Charlie “the Duck” (John Clark,
so wonderful in Key City Public Theatre’s “The Mystery of Irma Vep”
last year); the other is loutish Stanley (Luke
Sayler). Both are entangled, in unrelated ways, with a
shady character named Roscoe Crabbe, who might or might not be
dead, and might or might not be homosexual, but is certainly
betrothed to Charlie’s daughter Pauline (Christine
Riippi), who’d much rather marry Alan (Daniel
Stoltenberg), an aspiring bad actor and the son of
Charlie’s solicitor, Harry Dangle (Sierra
Kagen).
Things thick enough for you? We’ve only just begun to convolute,
people. Add in the show’s many musical numbers (with most of the
cast contributing vocals and/or instruments to the basics supplied
by guitarist John Brenner and pianist
Elijah Pasco), frequent Beatles references, and
Francis’ gleeful penchant for not just breaking the Fourth Wall but
disregarding it completely (including the recruitment and
subsequent mistreatment of audience members), and there’s more
going on than will fit on any traditional scorecard.
Michels — familiar to Kitsap audiences from his frequent duties
at Bainbridge Performing Arts — keeps his mostly
tremendous cast whipped into a frenzy throughout, finding and
utilitizing every opportunity for Roby et al to grind out every
possible laugh. Not everyone supplies all the substance they might,
and I had trouble deciphering some of the accents, but all hands
dive into the slapstick style of the thing with wild abandon.
A couple of standouts (besides Roby): Kayla
Teel (pictured above) makes for the most unlikely of tough
guys as Roscoe, but still manages to imbue him with enough slimy,
swaggering weirdness that the character comes off both edgy and
funny at the same time. And Stoltenberg wraps himself around his
every over-emoted, over-elocuted and over-amped line (“My honor has
been fiddled with!”) to the point where you’re simply left with no
choice but to laugh.
Burton Yuen‘s multi-layered, 3-D set is
extensive and evocative, but sometimes leaves out of the action the
audience members seated off to the sides. Set changes and lengthy
and detailed, but covered quite nicely by the aforementioned
musical selections.
“One Man, Two Guvnors” is eager to please, anything — and I mean
anything — for a laugh, old-school English mega-farce. It’s not to
be taken in any way seriously, and certainly not to be watched with
a straight face.
You couldn’t, anyway, even if you tried.
NOTE: The 2 p.m. Aug. 20 performance is designed exclusively
for families and groups whose members include people on the autism
spectrum.
REVIEW
‘ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS’
Who: Sound Theatre Company
What: Comedy by Richard Bean, based on “The
Servant of Two Masters” by Carlo Goldoni
Where: Seattle Center Armory, downstairs
When: Through Aug. 27; 7:30 p.m. Mondays,
Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. matinees Saturdays and
Sundays. NOTE: The 2 p.m. Aug. 20 performance is
autism-friendly
Tickets: $25-$15
Information: 206-856-5520,
soundtheatrecompany.org. Brown Paper Tickets — 800-838-3006,
brownpapertickets.com
PHOTOS BY KEN HOLMES |
SOUND THEATRE COMPANY
— MM
e. Instead, she’s
interested in what a recent feature article at dallasnews.com
called “a less linear, more organic approach to teaching and
learning.”
