One Man Two Guvnors is a fascinating comedy written by Richard Bean. Set in 1963 Brighton, the play following the journey of Francis Henshall as he struggles to keep his double employment a secret from his two guvnors, causing multiple misunderstandings and accidents along the way.
Having watched the National Theatre 2011 Production, the goal of trying to replicate something as fabulous came across, at first, as incredibly challenging. Performing comedy is quite tricky – the goal is not only to realistically and believably portray each character, but also to make adequate adjustments to vocal and physical elements to make the audience laugh. While rehearsing, the absence of an audience is quite nerve-wracking – does this joke come across well? Does this line achieve its intended effect?
Miraculously, we succeeded – within three months we learned the lines, blocked the entirety of the two hours, and learned to create comedy through certain manners of delivery. The moment dress rehearsal ended, everything started to seem surreal – we had actually put together an entire play.
The performances were more than rewarding: having an audience is so much different than rehearsals. Every laugh, every round of applause is an affirmation to our effort. Each night the audience was a bit different, so was the performance…yet each night after the performance and the day after, the endless “The play was so good”s we received was the biggest reward we could’ve imagined.
Participating in this play was a greatly beneficial experience. I made numerous friends and we built a unique relationship together as a cast.
Looking back, did we succeed in recreating the National Theatre 2011 Production? Having finished the play, I think replication is no longer the essence of our production – it is how we took the material and shifted it in many almost unnoticeable ways to make it fit our audience. Our production is a different version, but no less marvellous.
Isabella, L6
