With the
audio CD from the National Theatre fresh in my mind, I attended a touch tour
and performance of One Man, Two Guvnors (http://www.onemantwoguvnors.com/) at
the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London.
This was a transfer to London’s West End and is a popular show. My cousins from Australia and London had gone
and encouraged me to attend an audio described version. The show is written by Richard Bean and is loosely
based on Carlo Goldoni’s play One Servant, Two Masters.
The Haymarket
is one of London’s oldest theatres and has many interesting features. The only play I can remember seeing there
years ago was George Bernard Shaw’s The Millionairess starring Penelope
Keith. I had treated my parents to
circle seats and we were surprised to hear the National Anthem being
played. In those days it was unusual and
it turned out that a junior member of the Firm (British Royal Family), Princess Alexandra, was
attending.
On this
occasion we were treated to the National Theatre’s Reuben Lane greeting us in
front of the theatre, taking “Front of House” extremely seriously. Once the group had gathered, we entered the
auditorium and waited for access to the stage and set. Roz Chalmers, who had recorded the audio CD guide,
and Bridget Crowley were doing the description.
We were
introduced to Chris the company manager and Owain Arthur who plays the central character
Frances. Owain is the only obvious Welsh voice on the set and his character was
carefully explained with the aid of a spare suit. This checked suit is important as the
production has two suits each for the character and his understudy. In fact Owain had been the understudy and had
taken over the role in his own right for the London run.
Owain “sweats
buckets” with a lot of acrobatic moves and dashing about, so fixing his voice
and shape is helpful in following the dialogue.
His jacket (coat) is quite heavy though the trousers (pants) seemed
lighter. Other costumes were brought on
and we passed around a policeman’s tunic and helmet as well as a dress worn by
the character Pauline in the Beverley Sisters routine.
I explored
the set which gave a perspective of a terrace stretching down to the promenade
in Brighton, 1963. This is a trick of
the set wings and panels. The stage is
quite steep and an idea of the rake can be gained from backstage gazing out to
the auditorium, circle and gallery.
I was joined
by Chris who discussed lighting and I asked how much an actor saw of the audience
when playing. Chris said that on making
an entrance there is limited visibility beyond the floodlighting. The theatre has to apply non slip paint to
the stage as the gradient is so steep.
Many theatres have gradually been refitted to a flat surface which can
be more multi purpose friendly. This
means that dancers have fewer problems and of course allows ice skaters and
roller skaters to move about predictably. The Theatre Royal is, however, ideal
for presenting a play like Goldoni’s, which is in the commedia dell’arte
tradition.
The panels
were hand painted and I could detect stashes of props. There is a seaside cut out of WG Grace
(cricketer) with a hole for the face of someone to have a picture taken. WG Grace must have been quite tall and while
I am 5 feet 11 and Chris is 6 feet 1, WG Grace was that bit taller (hint). The bleached blonde wig in a beehive with
other wigs was on show. The hair is
human and these cost about £450 each with each actor having a personal
wig. Music features in the show and a
steel drum and set of car horns was tried out.
Owain talked
more about his part and explained the nature of the play hinting at some
audience participation and some element of improvisation, pantomime, vaudeville
and music hall. Somehow we got talking about pyrotechnics. I had spoken about following Hedda Gabler at
the Old Vic when she burns a manuscript in a stove on stage. With an assumed wink, Owain said that we may
get a bit of that when he cooked. However,
it was time to make our own stage exits, collect our headsets from Susan and have
a coffee and sandwich in a nearby café.
Later, and
back at the theatre, we were taken to our seats and Susan came round to check
the headsets for live notes and the band The Craze - not Krays, something that
my screenreader would not have picked up but which was “pointed out” in audio
cd sent beforehand. The Craze play in
interludes and provide music cues for scene changes. I kept the headsets on for most of the
show. I would have missed a lot of the
acrobats and tricks such as the antics of the elderly waiter played by Martin
Barrass. The descriptions were played as
live and though the show runs to some script a lot of judgement is necessary
for the describers in when to interject and when to stay silent.
In the show
itself there are few puns or even innuendo.
Times have changed from the 1960s double meaning, smuggled lines (Round
the Horne, Benny Hill and Carry On) and
though political correctness is still part of our self censorship culture,
there are some interesting references.
Look out for references to Parkhurst or even Woolworths . This genre relies on the comedian’s art of
going off script in a controlled way and is a common feature of an oral
tradition from Homer (Greek poet not Simpson) to the late Max (I wanna tell you
a story) Bygraves.
The programme
notes comment on Venetian commedia dell’arte and its decline. It certainly had
an influence in both opera seria and opera buffa. One only has to consider the Richard Strauss
opera Ariadne auf Naxos and imagine some scheduler combining the One Man Two
Governors with Verdi’s Requiem. I am
sure Owain Arthur could fit the bill as Zerbinetta in the Richard Strauss
canon- the other Strauss and his Fledermaus with Arthur in the role of Orlovsky
would be so passé.
The extent of
audience participation is a mystery. I
was sitting next to a member of the audience who offered a tsatziki sandwich to
Owain. There was some banter but the man
did not return after the interval. (Was
he given the concrete overcoat during the break?) Some of my fellow audience
were amazed at the scene where a member of the audience was handled on stage. (She
was hidden behind the cut out of WG Grace.)
This was a
very funny and entertaining show. The music
was of its time and on hearing someone behind me mention Hank Marvin, I thought
of the Shadows and asked if one of the guitarists was wearing glasses. He was.
Covent Garden
is currently “doing” Wagner’s Ring Cycle …
