’Ave yer not ’eard t’news? Since Goldoni wrote several of his plays in Venetian dialect, Northern Broadsides’ Barrie Rutter had the brainwave to commission Blake Morrison to translate The Servant of Two Masters into Northern dialect, title and all. As one of the characters says (maybe my favourite line), it’s an arsy-versy world.
We’re in some Last of the Corrie Squeers soundworld, and this, in a way that Goldoni may not have intended, is part of the comedy. The audience laughs out loud just to hear these characters talk of Skipton, Wigan, Liverpool, and it gurgles at the breadth of the dialect (and its occasional bawdiness), the more so as Rutter’s production is in Victorian costume. When Clarice protests that, if she married her fiancé tomorrow, it might seem common, her father says: “Bugger common! Let’s get yer ’itched afore ’e gets yer up duff.” Finally, when Duff realises that his gaffer Charles is actually Charlotte, he simply says “Alas!” – or rather “A lass!”: the biggest laugh of all.
Among other virtues, this company has the best diction I’ve heard in months: every consonant landed in the back row of the circle without once sounding forced. Rutter directs himself in the title role, but, though he sets the tone, he never steals the show. Its abundant charm lies in the twinkling energy of all nine actors, each of whom becomes distinct to us as a glorious comic type without staleness.
The Servant of Two Masters reminds you of umpteen other plays – and the familiarity is part of the delight – but the light it gives off is all its own. By the time you’ve reached the classic dinner scene when the servant is trying to deliver food to his different masters (but which courses to which masters?) while grabbing some food himself, you’re right in the heart of one of the most adorable comedies ever written.
Rutter’s production has three different swing doors here, with different servants charging through them all and mastering the art of not banging into the next one. The swing-swing-bang fun of it all is very bliss. ★★★★☆
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