One Man, Two Guvnors – National Theatre of Great Britain

Overview

It's the intermission of the funniest play that currently exists on the planet, and the crowd is in shock. Why? Well, I'm not inclined to tell you. Suffice to say, One Man, Two Guvnors might be a hybrid of every classic style of British humour, but that doesn't mean it plays it safe.

Based on the commedia dell'arte (read: old Italian panto) play Servant of Two Masters, this production has been adapted for the National Theatre of Great Britain by Mr Bean — that is to say, Richard Bean, prestigious playwright whose The Heretic divided Melbourne last year. One Man, Two Guvnors, set in '60s seaside Brighton, comes to the Arts Centre after stints on Broadway and the West End and several theatre awards. It's gargantuanly, uninhibitedly, divinely funny. A great leveller; you laugh, or you're not alive.

It all rests largely in the hands of Owain Arthur, who plays poor fool Francis Henshall, a man who becomes the personal assistant to two seemingly unrelated parties, all because he's dying to buy lunch. Arthur was the understudy to James Corden in the original run of this show, though watching him, it's quite impossible to imagine anyone else in the part. The man goes red in the face every time he opens his mouth to speak. The amount of energy he puts into these two-and-a-half-hours is stunning. Add a pair of high pants and a sweet Welsh accent, and you have a comedic triple threat.

He's not let down by the rest of the cast, either, with Edward Bennett in particular proving Arthur's match and counterpoint as toffy Stanley Stubbers, one of the guvnors. Where Arthur has to milk lines like "It tastes good for paper", Bennett fires off quick ripostes such as "I don't do first names; first names are for girls and Norwegians" with a flash of straight teeth and a brush of his blazer. They each stand at one end of the comedy spectrum from the slapsticky to the Wildean, with Amy Booth-Steel. Kellie Shirley, Leon Williams and Rosie Wyatt admirably filling the bits in between.

Keeping the good times rolling is a (very handsome) beat combo, who provide live music and step on stage between scenes. It's a fun and refreshing way to add a musical aspect to the show. Indeed, even when the energy of the show starts to flag in the second half (why? Maybe the spell is broken, it's just a bit more predictable or people are nervous about the show's approach to audience participation), these interludes spike the levels right back up again.

One Man, Two Guvnors may represent the least stuffy part of our British heritage. Eat it up.

This review is based on the Sydney run of this production in April 2013.