THE SERVANT OF TWO MASTERS. To 1 January.

London

THE SERVANT OF TWO MASTERS
by Carlo Goldoni adapted by Franko Figueiredo

New End Theatre To 1 January 2005
Mon-Sat 7.30pm
Runs 2hr 20min One interval

TICKETS: 0870 033 2733
www.newendtheatre.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 21 December

A Servant that fails to master the art of comedy.After a couple of absorbing shows at New End things thud down to earth with this Christmas turkey of a production. I know that's easy to write and dismissive of good people's hard work, but I've waited almost a week, hoping the unfavourable impression would fade, and some rosier memory start forming but no. The whole enterprise seems misjudged from start to finish.

Though where it starts is a matter of definition. The audience began huddled rather self-consciously into New End's little café-bar where we'd been told the show would start'. This means the acting troupe processing tunefully and energetically in, telling us to turn off mobile phones and follow them downstairs (where many of us had just come from) before entering the auditorium for the play proper to commence. So far, so OK. But then, the play did commence.

Whether properly or not's a matter for discussion. Goldoni's attempts to reform Italian comedy may or not fit with Stuart Major's painted-face Arlecchino making forays into the audience. But amiable as this Arlecchino is, he hardly commanded the situation. Despite complaining of starvation he declined to eat the boiled sweet and 2-finger Kit-Kat handouts donated by the Hampstead audience. And his bantering interplay with the audience lacked wit or ingenuity it would do to pass the time in a queue but hardly as the main entertainment.

Not that it's easy making rousing comedy when you're improvising in a restricted space with a sober and mature audience of two dozen or so. Maybe a full, and youthful, house just arrived from a hefty session in the pub next door would have made more from the Arlecchinic interventions. But no good production should have to rely on that.

There are a couple of colourful scene cloths from designer Lu Firth and several cast members have quite good moments. But only Andrea Cullum's Clarice consistently catches the comic atmosphere with clarity and precision in a production where the action is left to make its own way, when not clogged up by business performed with only a moderate level of skill.

Arlecchino: Stuart Major
Pantalone/Porter: William Tombs
Clarice: Andrea Cullum
Silvio/Waiter: Simon Lawrence
Dr Lombardi/Waitress: Jillian George-Lewis
Smeraldina/Waitress: Lisa Benson
Brighella/Porter: Tereza Araujo
Beatrice: Catherine Eccles
Florindo: Marcio Mello

Director: Franko Figueiredo
Designer/Costume: Lu Firth
Lighting: Thomas White
Sound: Dinah Mullen
Assistant director: The Company

2004-12-28 23:33:55