Few theatergoing experiences are as joyously liberating as being part of a packed house roaring with laughter at low comedy. That shouldn’t imply any lack of genuine wit in the broad farce and bawdy humor of ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS, Richard Bean’s gut-busting update of the Carlo Goldoni commedia dell’arte nugget, The Servant of Two Masters. Striking an ingenious balance between meticulous planning and what plays like anarchic spontaneity. With virtuoso ringmaster James Corden on hand to juggle the demands of dual employment while wrapping the audience around his pudgy finger, ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS is the hoot of the season.
On one level, it’s a story about a dum-dum who becomes the full-time lackey for two different shady employers and who hasn’t the brains to handle one full-time job, let alone two. On another level, it’s a vehicle for running wonderfully amok — and taking an audience along. Whatever it is, I dare you to see it and not laugh out loud, a lot.
Nicholas Hytner, the National Theatre’s artistic chief who directed ONE MAN with Cal McCrystal, commissioned the play especially for Corden, having worked with him on the stage and film versions of Alan Bennett’s “The History Boys”.
I laughed my goddamn head off.




The Telegraph
Copyright The Telegraph