By Carlo Goldoni
Adaptation by Lee Hall
Directed and Choreographed
by Ruth Griffin 2011

This play comes to us from the 18th Century.  It is steeped in the culture of the Italian Renaissance Commedia Dell’Arte where stock characters abound. Carlo Goldoni (1707-1793) was an aspiring tragedian. Even so in 1745 he received a commission to draft a scenario for a famous actor who played Arlecchino. He wrote the scenario for A Servant of Two Masters that was pinned to the side of the stage for the actors to fulfill with improvisation, as was the tradition in Commedia Dell’Arte.  The production was an immediate and enormous success however when Goldoni saw it he was appalled by the indulgence of the actors and in a fury wrote down a script for the actors to learn.  In so doing he preserved the centuries old tradition of the improvisers and dealt a wounding blow to its freedom.  Even so his script in a distinctive way tracks the flow and sequence of one present moment to another and reveals its alliance with the improvisers legacy and the evolution of the plays’ characters from the cyclical rhythm of carnival.  Lee Hall’s adaptation from 1999 follows closely the structure of Goldoni’s original introducing some modern flourishes and asides.

Review

Has director Ruth Griffin figured out how to subvert the laws of physics?  There are moments in the delightful and inspired “A Servant to Two Masters,”  when it seems as if the whole cast’s center of gravity has been joyfully altered.

-Donald Munro The Fresno Bee