Captivate Theatre bring their brilliant production of Richard Bean’s farcical comedy, ‘One Man Two Guvnors’, to the Edinburgh Fringe. The iconic comedy plays at The Rose Theatre at 18:00 until 28th August.
‘One Man, Two Guvnors’ follows Francis Henshall as he becomes minder to Roscoe Crabbe, a small-time East End hood, now in Brighton to collect £6,000 from his fiancée’s dad. But Roscoe is really his sister Rachel posing as her own dead brother, who’s been killed by her boyfriend Stanley Stubbers. Holed up at The Cricketers’ Arms, the permanently ravenous Francis spots the chance of an extra meal ticket and takes a second job with one Stanley Stubbers, who is hiding from the police and waiting to be reunited with Rachel. To prevent discovery, Francis must keep his two guvnors apart. The trouble is that Francis Henshall is easily confused! Chaos reigns as he tries to stop his two guvnors from meeting each other.
Scott Coltman reprises his side-splitting portrayal of Francis Henshall. Instantly from the moment he makes his bold entrance on stage, he has the audience in the palm of his hand. The physical comedy on offer from Scott brings such energy and life to Francis. Scott brings a whole new dimension to this character, he brings a more casual approach where the dialogue is not heightened to a ridiculous extent, yet the farcical antics are portrayed so brilliantly that the audience are in stitches frequently. Once again this is a portrayal which tops the original inhabitor of this role, James Corden. Coltman embraces Francis’ crackpot energy and rises the character for every ounce of humour he can find to create comedy gold.
Georgia-Lee Roberts is back as Rachel Crabbe. Georgia’s brilliant exaggerated physical comedy while in the guise of Roscoe Crabbe instantly plants a strong impression on the audience. The contrast of Rachel’s character is clear from that of Roscoe, and both have their own unique comedic quirks. Georgia’s energy and presence as Rachel is one which the audience loved, mainly due to the versatile verbal and physical comic notes that were hit in her portrayal. Georgia-Lee’s dynamic with John Knox’s Stanley Stubbers was the cherry on top of the cake.
John Knox’s portayal of Stanley Stubbers is once again utterly tofftastic. John has truly emphasized Stanley’s upper-class characteristics and thrown them headfirst into every comedic piece of dialogue which brings great energy and loads of laughs. This is perhaps the most hightened portrayal in the production, however it works sublimely. John’s dynamic with Coltman’s Francis and Roberts’ Rachel is great fun to watch.
Craig Lowe gives old geezer vibes as Charlie Clench, brilliantly bringing the sarcastic and rather old-fashioned Eastender to life. Craig brilliantly delivers the punchy one-liners.
Sally Cairns is back and as hysterical as ever as the ditsy Pauline Clench. Sally’s energy and portrayal of the rather giddy Pauline is comic gold. Scott Binnie’s Alan provides much hilarity as the wannabe actor. Scott’s exaggerated delivery of the bonkers dialogue is enough to make anyone see Alan’s love of buses. Scott and Sally’s relationship is also a great sub-plot that is driven by the two performers fantastic dynamic.
Dannielle Logan once again radiates humour and power as Dolly. The more grounded yet physically hilarious approach Dannielle has brought to this character fits as a perfect contrast to that of Francis, which makes the brutal truths and also the unfiltered admissions to the audience so much funnier as they seem so realistic. Dolly’s comedic and rather turbulent chemistry with Francis is also another highlight of this production thanks to Scott and Dannielle’s great performances.
Charlie Munro is back to bring us more hilarious antics as Alfie. Every scene Charlie featured in achieved an uproar of laughter, purely due to his physical comedy and outrageous delivery of dialogue. This is a superb performance from Charlie that audiences loved.
Sandy Queenan gave a solid portrayal of Lloyd, being one of the few characters spliced with realism, observing the farcical events unfold in disbelief, much like the audience. Les Fulton also gave a good portrayal of Harry Dangle, with the old-fashioned attitude clearly shown and there was a great embracement of the lawyer’s middle class demeanor.
Hazel Beattie supplied stunning accompanying vocals in scene transitions plus hilarious waiting skills. Frazer Hume accompanied Hazel on piano, bringing fantastic energy into the scene transitions.
Sally Lyall’s direction of this production once again relies on the narrative of the play and the performance of the actors to make it the success it is, rather than big-budget set pieces and heavy technical theatre, which the previous production from the National Theatre relied heavily on. This approach to the cut-down text really pays off, and actually suits the play more, with a stripped-back set from Sandy Queenan, plus costume & props from Mairi Cross and Charlotte Nicholson, the audience are at all times engaged in the action due to no distractions from the actor’s performances. Richard Bean’s text is one of the best in British theatre history, which humongous characters which all radiate stellar humour, and also encapsulate the commedia del arte that was featured in the original carnation of this text, Goldoni’s ‘The Servant of Two Masters’
‘One Man, Two Guvnors’ is a rip-roaring tidal wave of comedy, featuring a supremely talented local cast and creative team. Be prepared to embrace the fun of this production, if you’re not the sort of person who enjoys hysterical slap-stick comedy, then this isn’t for you, but if you have a sense of humour then you’ll be wheezing within the first five minutes of this brilliant play.
Get your tickets below:
Theatre Scotland 
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