“One Man Two Guvnors” by Richard Bean
Derby Theatre

After being fired from his skiffle band, Francis Henshall is skint and hungry. He manages to secure a new job as a minder for small time gangster Roscoe Crabbe. What Francis doesn’t know, is his new guvnor is really Roscoe’s sister Rachel in disguise, as her own dead brother, who has been killed by her boyfriend Stanley Stubbers.

To further complicate things, Francis nabs a second job working for that very Stanley Stubbers who is hiding from the police.

All Francis has to do is ensure his two guvnors don’t meet. What could go wrong?

It's one of those productions where the whole cast were on a par with each other, no one stood out more than the other

David O’ Reilly (Francis) had some real tongue twisting speeches, also toyed with the audience until he had them eating out of his hand, David Cardy (Charlie) who you may recognise as playing Chris, Pauline Quirke’s character’s husband in “Birds Of A Feather”,Samantha Hull (Pauline), George Kemp (Stanley), Alice Frankham (Rachel), TJ Holmes (Alfie - the 86 year old waiter with some nifty gymnastic skills), Ivan Stott (Harry), Duane Hannibal (Lloyd), Jack Brett (Alan - the actor who was always on stage, who probably performs when he opens the fridge door), Craig Armstrong (Gareth) and Rosie Strobel (Dolly).

The cast reminded me just what a brilliant piece of comedy theatre this is. The slapstick was well timed and the characters just the right side of over the top. Sarah obviously has great faith in David O' Reilly with the ad-libbing and audience play, and in bringing the script back to order after the unrehearsed banter..

Directed by Sarah Brigham, the pace was well maintained, just as it should be with a farce such as this. Even though I've seen the play several times before, I still had to look twice at the time for the interval to check that I'd just watched nearly ninety minutes of wonderful comedy.

The songs performed in the show are written by Grant Olding and performed by a band called The Rozzers, who also entertain us before the show and during the interval as well during the show itself. A brilliant way to mask the scene changes. The quartet consist of Oraine Johnson, Dominic Gee Burch, Jay Osborne and Tom Wolstenholme. Musical Director is Kelvin Towse.

The musical pieces took us from skiffle to the Beatle-esque and were received just as warmly by the crowd as the acting was.

Adam McCready is responsible for the Sound Design and, as usual at Derby Theatre, the acoustics were spot on. Not a word was missed and the music mix was clear as a bell.

The brilliant fold away set is designed by Neil Irish, as are the wonderful costumes.

I was quite surprised that the theatre was not better attended for such a wonderful piece of comedy, but those that were in attendance absolutely lapped up such a rich helping of commedia dell'arte. The laughs weren't giggles, titters or chuckles, they were full blown belly laughs.

It's old fashioned comedy that never goes out of style because the comedy is clever. The slapstick and physical comedy is the one reason why Laurel and Hardy, Buster Keaton and Abbott and Costello are as beloved today as they were back in their day, and this play keeps that comedy style alive today.

“One Man Two Guvnors” is at Derby Theatre until Saturday 28 September, so if you're feeling just a little in need of a good laugh, this is the show to see. They say laughter is the best medicine, so Dr Kev prescribes a healthy dose of Francis and co.