(Michael Billington’s article appeared in the Guardian, 5/25.)

In 1746, Carlo Goldoni wrote a classic comedy normally translated as The Servant of Two Masters. Richard Bean has used it for a riotous farce combining the original's structure with a particularly Anglo-Saxon verbal and physical humour. The result, a kind of Carry On Carlo, is one of the funniest productions in the National's history.

The plot almost defies description. But Bean has set the action in 1963 in Brighton, and the key point is that Francis Henshall, a failed skiffle player, finds himself working for two guvnors. One, Rachel Crabbe, is disguised as her dead gangland twin, and, in her brutal mop-like wig, bears an uncanny resemblance to Ringo Starr.

via http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2011/may/25/one-man-two-guvnors-review

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(Michael Billington’s article appeared in the Guardian, 5/20.)

What to do with this endlessly problematic play? Directors such as Peter Zadek and David Thacker set it in the stock exchange. But Rupert Goold, as is his wont, goes for broke by transporting it wholesale to modern Las Vegas, where showbiz fantasy meets speculative capitalism; and the result is, by turns, brilliant, outrageous and excessive.

At first I had difficulty working out the logic of the setting: why, in particular, should Patrick Stewart's multi-millionaire property-owning, semi-assimilated Shylock feel an "ancient grudge" towards the local Christians? And could we really believe they would void their spittle upon him in the wide streets of the US gambling capital?

 via    http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2011/may/20/merchant-of-venice-review-rsc

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