One Man, Two Guvnors (National Theatre at Home) review

One Man, Two Guvnors National Theatre at Home

Set in Brighton in 1963, One Man, Two Guvnors was bright, entertaining and funny! You can’t get any better than that for a comedy.

Francis Henshall (played by the wonderful James Corden) is seen constantly going back and forth between his foreboding bosses, doing their bidding for a decent meal. You soon see he is finding this a bit tricky to say the least!

The performances from the whole cast were outstanding. I particularly enjoyed James Corden’s performance; it was articulate, hilarious and energetic. The actors had a great rapport and this made the performances shine. ‘Stanley Stubbers’ played by Oliver Chris, was one of my favourite characters. He was amazing! His timing was great; it was his long pauses between his lines that got me. The audience just knew when to laugh at his brilliant banter!

The actor Tom Edden who played the waiter ‘Alfie’ also had me in stitches. His eyes were bobbing around, going wild! His hair was long and looked like he had put his fingers in an electrical socket. His physical comedy was fabulous. He must be made of steel!

I wasn’t sure about the audience interaction. An audience member was beckoned on stage to take part in a scene. She was visibly uncomfortable, which made me feel uncomfortable in turn. She was asked to help serve up food and eventually got sprayed with foam. Why? I thought. It interrupted the flow of the play for me, but it turned out the audience member in question was in fact one of the actors!

I loved the set as it was very authentic and looked very 1960’s which is one of my favourite eras. The lights were warm and welcoming, and showed off the costumes beautifully. The stage was a lovely glow.

One Man, Two Guvnors was a joy to watch. It went in the blink of an eye!

It’s so great that the National Theatre have made their plays available online for everyone to watch in the lockdown.