Product Description

A Christmas pantomime with an Italian accent from the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Young Vic Company "Two wages. Two men's meals. Am I mad? Not half." Carlo Goldoni's 18th century comedy about a wily servant who gets the best of his masters by hook and crook is one of the great classic commedia dell'arte scripts of world drama. In this new, rapid fire adaptation by award winning dramatist Lee Hall, the language has been updated to now in order to give the action the fast-paced feeling of a Christmas pantomime.A cracker of a version certain to please all and fill the theatres.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #73455 in Books
• Published on: 1999-12-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

About the Author
Carlo Goldoni (1707-93) was an Italian dramatist born in Venice who wrote over 200 comedies, tragedies and tragicomedies in his lifetime. His many popular comedies include A Servant to Two Masters (1746), The Respectable Woman (1749) and The Mistress of the Inn (1753). In 1762 Goldoni moved to Paris where he directed the Italian theatre and continued to write more plays, including The Fan (1764). After his acclaimed play Spoonface Steinberg (1997), Lee Hall was appointed Writer in Residence at the RSC 1999/2000 under the Pearson Playwrights Scheme Award. Other plays include Cooking with Elvis (2000, Edinburgh Festival and West End) and an adaptation of Goldoni's The Servant with Two Masters (RSC 1999). He also wrote the screenplay to the film Billy Elliot (1999), receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. His most recent play, The Pitmen Painters premiered at the Live Theatre, Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 2007 before transferring to the National Theatre 2008.

Customer Reviews

I never knew having two jobs could be such fun!
Lee Hall has done a wonderful job of updating this great piece of theatre. I didn't see the recent London production of the play, but heard such good word of mouth, that I sought out this script. I am glad that I did.

Mr Hall's introduction to this edition gives a really good background to the history of the play and explains why he felt it necessary to adapt it the way he did; in essence restoring the play to it's truest form after years of being performed in versions that were at least poor, but possibibly travesties.

This is a great read but I would really like to produce it on the amateur stage in York.

The language is fast and furious as is the action and the contrivances seeming somehow natural. I like my theatre to acknowledge that it is that, and is in some way artificial and accepts a relationship with the audience using asides and the like. This play does that, but does not descend into pantomime.

The characters are richly drawn when they need to be, but needless back stories are avoided - so the play just continues to roll foreward apace.

Mistaken identity in theatre is an idea as old as the hills, but when done well, as it is here, the results are often hilarious, occassionally very moving and extremely satisfying.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Funny!
this was so great that after reading the script i went out to see it to relive the humour, and the use of slapstick comedy and commedia dell'arte, my advice would be read it and if you have, go and see it!!!