One Man, Two Guvnors − Learning Guide
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One Man, Two Guvnors − Learning Guide About This Guide ...............................................................1 Background Information ..................................................2 Teaching Information ........................................................4 Production Notes Contextual Information .............................................6 Key Design Elements ................................................6 Performance Style ...................................................12 Key Moments ...........................................................13 Plot Synopsis ...................................................................14 Find Out More ..................................................................18 1 One Man, Two Guvnors − Learning Guide About This learning guide supports the National Theatre’s production of One Man, Two Guvnors, directed by Nicholas Hytner, which opened on 24th May 2011 at the National’s Lyttelton Theatre in London. Our packs are designed to support viewing the recording on the National Theatre Collection. This pack provides links to the UK school curriculum and other productions in the Collection. It also has a plot synopsis with timecodes to allow you to jump to specific sections of the play. Here you’ll also find all the information you need to enable you to study the production and write about it in detail. This includes notes about all of the key elements from performance style to design. You’ll also find pointers for further research. 1 One Man, Two Guvnors − Learning Guide Background Information Recording Date – 15th September, 2011 Location – Lyttelton Theatre, National Theatre Age Recommendation – 12+ Cast Dolly..................................................................Suzie Toase Lloyd Boateng .................................................. Trevor Laird Charlie "the Duck" Clench ........................ Fred Ridgeway Pauline Clench .................................................Claire Lams Harry Dangle ................................................... Daniel Rigby Francis Henshall .......................................... James Corden Rachel Crabbe ........................................... Jemima Rooper Stanley Stubbers ............................................. Oliver Chris Gareth ........................................................... David Benson Alfie ....................................................................Tom Edden Ensemble ....................................................... Polly Conway Ensemble .......................................................... Derek Elroy Ensemble .................................................... Paul Lancaster Ensemble ...................................................... Fergus March Ensemble ..................................................... Gareth Mason Ensemble .....................................................Clare Thomson 'The Craze' Guitar..............................................................Grant Olding Guitar .............................................................Philip James Drums .................................................... Benjamin Brooker Ensemble ...................................................... Jolyon Dixon 2 One Man, Two Guvnors − Learning Guide Background Information Recording Date – 15th September, 2011 Location – Lyttelton Theatre, National Theatre Age Recommendation – 12+ Creative Team Director ...................................................... Nicholas Hytner Writer ............................. Richard Bean (after Carlo Goldoni) Associate Director ....................................... Cal McCrystal Designer ..................................................... Mark Thompson Music ............................................................... Grant Olding Fight Director ..................................................Kate Waters Choreographer / Staff Director ...................... Adam Penford Sound Designer ................................................. Paul Arditti Lighting Designer .................................... Mark Henderson 3 One Man, Two Guvnors − Learning Guide Teaching Information This production is particularly suitable for: • Drama and theatre students studying Goldoni’s A Servant of Two Masters for A Level. • Anyone studying Commedia dell’arte, physical comedy and slapstick. • Anyone interested in re-imagined contemporary productions of classic plays. • Drama and theatre students studying Nicholas Hytner as a contemporary practitioner In particular you might like to explore: • Richard Bean’s adaptation of Goldoni’s original A Servant of Two Masters and whether moving the action of the play to 1960s Brighton makes it more relevant and more amusing for a contemporary audience. • How the design of the production contributes to the storytelling and physical comedy. • How the principles of commedia dell’arte are used in the production. • How the music and sound design help to create the world of the play. There are a number of other productions in the National Theatre Collection that relate to this one, which you and your students may wish to explore alongside it. Other comedies Production Date Playwright Director London Assurance 2010 Dion Boucicault Nicholas Hytner She Stoops to Conquer 2012 Oliver Goldsmith Jamie Lloyd Twelfth Night 2017 William Shakespeare Simon Godwin 4 One Man, Two Guvnors − Learning Guide Teaching Information Other adaptations of classic plays in the NT Collection Production Date Adaptor/Playwright Director Yerma 2017 Simon Stone after Nicholas Hytner Federico García Lorca Other productions featuring members of the same creative team Productions Artist London Assurance Richard Bean - Adaptor Julius Caesar Paul Arditti - Sound Designer Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Othello Nicholas Hytner - Director London Assurance London Assurance, Mark Thompson - Designer She Stoops to Conquer Coriolanus, Antigone Mark Henderson - Lighting Designer Julius Caesar, wonder.land, Paul Arditti - Sound Designer A Streetcar Named Desire Frankenstein, Hamlet, Othello, Kate Waters - Fight Director Deep Blue Sea, Dara, Small Island 5 One Man, Two Guvnors − Learning Guide Production Notes The following notes have been compiled to help guide you through the significant design and performance aspects as you watch the production, or to remind you of them after you have watched it. You may also want to make your own notes and form your own opinions on the effectiveness of these aspects as you explore the production. Contextual Information • Richard Bean has updated the Goldoni Servant of Two Masters to 1960s Brighton. • The adaptation relies on a variety of Commedia dell'Arte influences. • Because the play is set in the 1960s, and the play was written in 2011, there is dramatic irony, in places for example when one character begins to imagine a female prime minister (the first female prime minister being Margaret Thatcher who was a Conservative and who was elected in 1979). Key Design Elements: Set • Due to the slapstick nature of the action, there is often a clear space downstage in which that takes place. • Proscenium arch stage, with orange velvet curtains which are closed when the skiffle band/other performers give musical performances: in the style of music/ variety shows. The arch is formed of blue tiles and there are doors both stage left and stage right, which remain throughout to aid quick paced and slapstick/timed entrances and exits in the various different locations. • Scene changes for furniture are done by stagehands in brown coats and flat caps. The scenery consists of painted flats. • Living room: for Pauline and Alan’s engagement celebration. Patterned wallpaper, orange armchairs with anti-macassars on the back, another period detail. There is a large portrait of Queen Elizabeth II on the wall (her coronation portrait). Upstage wall has long windows, with a painted view of Brighton pier. Dining table, covered with a white tablecloth, with food and champagne bottles. Book shelves stage right, with ornaments and lamp. Patterned curtains. Standard lamp. 6 One Man, Two Guvnors − Learning Guide Production Notes • Outside The Cricketers Arms. Wooden bench stage left, painted scenery flats further upstage of terraced housing. Backdrop shows Brighton Pier. • The hotel dining room has a repeated cricket pattern on the wallpaper (The Cricketers Arms is the name of the pub. There is a staircase in the upstage part of the set (descending). A different circular pattern is on the stairwell wallpaper. Table with covered table centre stage. • Brighton sea front: upstage a white railing (complete with lifesaving ring and seagull) spans the stage with the painted backdrop of the sea and coastline. 7 One Man, Two Guvnors − Learning Guide Production Notes Key Design Elements: Costume The play is set in the 1960s and so the fabric and cut of the costumes reflect this time period. All of the characters appear to take a lot of pride in their appearance, partly to be attractive to the opposite sex (i.e. Dolly) or to demonstrate status within the group (Harry, Charlie). Wealth is shown through subtler colour (Stanley) and Frances’s foolish, comedic nature is shown through the way in which his suit is not entirely fitted and is slightly too short in the leg. • Frances Henshall: Three-piece suit, with the trousers slightly too short. The suit has wide checks on it. White shirt. Look closely and you will even see harlequin shapes on his tie and his socks, a reference to Arlecchino, the originator of the harlequin. • Charlie