[Woody’s [rating: 5]
Rubber-bodied Dan Donohue stars as Francis Henshall in “One Man, Two Guvnors.” Photo, courtesy mellopix.com.
- Ron Campbell (left), Dan Donohue (center) and Danny Scheie are among the biggest laugh-getters in “One Man, Two Guvnors.” Photo, courtesy mellopix.com.
- Brad Culver as wannabe actor Alan Dangle (center) is flanked by Sarah Moser as his fiancée and John-David Keller as his father in “One Man, Two Guvnors.” Photo, courtesy mellopix.com.
The new Berkeley Rep farce, “One Man, Two Guvnors,” stirs the most good feelings — by far — of any feel-good show this season.
Despite the play being a throwback to English music hall shtick (with vaudevillian antics, burlesque sight gags, a little male crotch-grabbing, the breaking of the Fourth Wall, an avalanche of alliteration, a spot of audience participation, and skiffle band/faux Fab Four music tossed in just for the fun of it).
All wrapped in a whopping, fluffy cornball.
But the entire theatrical patchwork quilt — and 15-member acting ensemble — made me grin, smile, chortle and laugh — from beginning to end.
Quite a feat considering the first act’s 90 minutes long, the second another hour.
Don Donohue recently played a somewhat serious character, Richard III, in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and has played the villainous Scar in “The Lion King” on Broadway.
Here, as Francis Henshall, he’s what I’ll describe as a farce of nature.
He’s as skilled, exquisitely timed and rubber-bodied a clown as Pickle Family grads Bill Irwin or Geoff Hoyle, which is high praise indeed.
So easily muddled he can convince himself he’s his own alter ego, Francis fights with himself — verbally and physically. And he turns the moving of a trunk, and serving a feast while he’s starving, into pantomine works of art.
Donohue’s magnificently supported by, in particular, Ron Campbell as Alfie, a fright-wigged, off-balance geezer with a penchant for falling down stairs; Brad Culver as Alan Dangle, wannabe lover and wannabe actor always prepared to ham up his imagined lines; and Danny Scheie as Gareth, screechy-voiced food-server and scene-stealer.
Scheie, not incidentally, delivers the funniest pre-show cell-phone/exit instructions I’ve heard in eons.
The zany, simplistic plot?
The protagonist is hired separately but simultaneously by two men — Roscoe Crabbe, a dead gay mobster now being impersonated by his twin sister, Rachel, and Stanley Stubbers, a snooty criminal who’s her lover, her brother’s killer and a guy prone to such inane comments as, “I felt like a floral clock in the middle of winter.”
Francis’ main job is to flit between the two without either learning about the other.
Sounds like a farce to me.
Relying heavily on suspending belief about mistaken identities.
Since it is a farce, I’d expected dozens of slamming doors. Director David Ivers, a San Rafael, native, didn’t disappoint me.
But he manages to inject virtually everything he thought might add manifold touches of silliness — including oodles of slapstick and other visual hocus-pocus, non sequiturs, pure babble and off-center lines (such one from Rachel, who’s terrified of moving to Australia because she’d have to face “a terrible — outdoorsy — life”).
The play, written by Richard Bean, is set in 1963 Brighton. But it’s really an update of “The Servant of Two Masters,” a 1743 Italian Commedia dell’arte style work by Carol Goldoni.
Almost 300 years old and still hilarious.
Not too long in the tooth after all.
The current South Coast Repertory co-production — which trails the show’s Broadway opening by only four years — features a quartet of lively musicians — two guitarists, a bass and a washboard player — who perform original Grant Olding tunes under the rubric “The Craze.”
Yes, it’s all unabashedly British — but there are definite overlays of rockabilly and Beatles and an estrogen trio oozing glitz.
“One Man, Two Guvnors” ends up being unadulterated joy, and doesn’t miss a comedic trick.
Well, that’s not quite true: I saw no pie in the face.
“One Man, Two Guvnors” plays at the Berkeley Rep’s Roda Theatre, 2025 Addison St., Berkeley, through June 21. Night performances, 7 p.m. Wednesdays and Sundays, 8 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays through Saturdays. Matinees, 2 p.m. Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets: $14.50 to $89, subject to change. Information: (510) 647-2949 or www.berkeleyrep.org
Contact Woody Weingarten at voodee@sbcglobal.net or http://vitalitypress.com
