One Man, Two Guvnors is a play by Richard Bean which made
its debut at the National Theatre in 2011. Following this it toured the UK and
transferred to the West End’s Adelphi Theatre and then later at the Royal
Haymarket Theatre. Since then the production has opened on Broadway and has
launched its second tour which will make international stops.
The play is a
classic slapstick comedy, following the story of Francis Henshall who has been
employed by two men, Roscoe Crabbe and Stanley Stubbers. Roscoe Crabbe was
meant to have been killed by his twin sisters fiancé but he suddenly comes back
to claim Pauline Crocker as his wife. Roscoe is of course his Twin Sister,
Rachel Crabbe, in disguise. She is doing this so she can get money off
Pauline’s father so she and Stanley (who killed her brother) can go to
Australia and hide away from the police.
I don’t personally like slapstick
comedy as I get bored of it after two minutes however this play really brought
it into the twenty first century and made it right for a modern audience, integrating
audience interaction with the comedy. Richard Bean really knows who to write a
comedy, he carried the humour throughout the whole show and he did it really
well. At no point did I think ‘this is dragging on’ or ‘ok, next scene please’.
A very talented writer.
