A Servant To Two Masters (Modern Plays)

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David de Keyser appeared in previous Brian Clemens productions such as Thriller and The New Avengers. The three tall chimneys on the right-hand side are the tell-tales here as all the other buildings in the vicinity have been replaced!

The comedy One Man,Two Guvnors, notably with James Corden who very successfully earned a meal ticket around the world as its hungry star – was inspired by this play, A Servant to Two Masters.

Unlike the majority of the characters on this list, they appear unmasked, as an attractive young couple. Doyle assuming that the van shaking about must mean that Bodie's been distracted by the case and has "found himself a milkmaid" is a funny presage to a nice little scrap with the villains. Truffaldino, the titular ‘Servant of Two Masters’ in Goldoni’s farce, is an offshoot of Arlecchino (or in English, Harlequin). Truffaldino accepts Florindo’s offer, determining that if he is clever he can serve two masters and easily double his income. Arlechinno was presented at the Brockley Jack Studio Theatre and supported by Friends of Latin American Expression, Brazilian Cultural Arts and Babur Brasserie.

However, her servant, Truffaldino, enters into the pay of Florindo, and struggles to keep his two lives and masters separate. What we got was one villain sustaining light damage to his anorak, which was enough to scare his colleagues into surrendering! This, combined with marriage arrangements, love affairs and even some cross dressing, serves to create a hilarious confusion from which it seems impossible for even the wily Arlechinno to escape! When the opportunity presents itself to be servant to another master (Florindo, as it happens) he sees the opportunity for an extra dinner.In Arthur's chambers, Merlin prepares a bath for the king and pours in a jar of corrosive salts, which turns the bath into acid strong enough to corrode steel. It is still sharp and funny, and Hall's easy, colloquial version makes the whole affair seem contemporary. It would perhaps have worked a little more credibly had the doctor's surgery scene - where Cowley is told to take it easy and look forward to retirement - had been placed at the beginning of the story.

And in terms of the original UK transmission, it was one of the episodes delayed by Lewis Collins' parachuting accident, thus not screened until the end of the third season. However, he is now dead, so at the beginning of the play she is planning on marrying her true love, Silvio.

Beatrice's servant, the exceptionally quirky and comical Harlequin (known in English also as Truffaldino, which can be translated into English as Fraudolent), is the central figure of this play. Doyle, peering into the back of the van, expecting to see Bodie with his latest conquest, wags a finger: "Naughty, naughty!