The Servant of Two Masters |
December 2003 |
This classic play by Carlo Goldoni, adapted by Lee Hall, was Ashby Dramatic Society’s production for November 2003 at the Venture theatre, directed by Karen Heath. The life of Italian dramatist Carlo Goldoni almost exactly spanned the eighteenth century, a time when the traditional comedia dell’arte style was in a decline and ‘written’ drama as we know it was beginning. Goldoni skilfully adapted the comedia dell’arte pattern to his own very funny plots and the most famous of the resulting plays is ‘The Servant of Two Masters’.
The story concerns the terrible complications wrought by the servant Truffaldino when he gets jobs with two different people at the same time.
Not all the complications are of his making: one of his ‘masters’ is in fact a lady in disguise, and the other master is her lover, but Truffaldino doesn’t know this. This is one of the comic elements in a plot that sparkles with invention.This adaptation brilliantly matches the spirit of the play.
