This play is based on the most famous of Carlo Goldoni’s works, ‘A Servant of Two Masters’, written in the 1740s. ‘One Man, Two Guvnors’ went on to win the Critics’ Circle Theatre Award in 2011, then Best New Play in the Evening Standard Awards also in 2011.

The Melville Theatre Company is presenting this hilarious, madcap two-hour play, and it can be seen nightly until Saturday 10th December, at the Melville Theatre, on the corner of Stock Road and Canning Highway in Melville.

The time is 1963, in Brighton on the south coast of England. The main scene is the sitting room of Charlie’s house, but with the movement of the odd flat, it was transformed into the dining room of the local hostelry. The set construction was led by Ross Bertinshaw, who was aided by Don Callison, along with Lars and Jacob Jensen. The whole cast ‘mucked in’ with the painting of the set.

There were several involved scene changes, but stage manager, Garry Davies assisted by Ross Bertinshaw and Jeff Hansen were quick and efficient. The lighting design could have been simple, but designer Lars Jensen had some nice extra touches. Vanessa Jensen operated the lighting and sound desks.

         Thanks to the skills of bent solicitor, Harry Dangle (Peter Neaves), cockney criminal, Charlie Clench (Kim Taylor) has been released from prison – yet again. Now his Jamaican minder, Lloyd (Amri Mrisho), is guarding him.

         In Charlie’s house, there is an engagement party. Charlie’s beautiful but brainless daughter, Pauline (Pip Tompson) was in love with Rosko, but he was discovered murdered by Stanley (Sean Bullock). So Pauline has found a new love, and is about to marry the solicitor’s son, the ham actor and drama queen, Alan Dangle (Lachlan Stewart).

         The doorbell rings and a rotund character, Francis Henshall (Chris Bedding) enters. He is Harry’s odd job man, whose appetite for food is insatiable. Francis spots Charlie’s secretary, Dolly (Victoria Dixon) and immediately there is a love bond. As the party progresses, the dead boyfriend, Rosko arrives – it is in fact his twin sister, Rachel (Sarah Christiner) dressed in Rosko’s suit.

       The group move by taxi, (driver Jeff Hansen) to a private room in the local pub. On the way, they encounter a nervous old lady (Michelle Sharp) and are chased by a policeman (Ross Bertinshaw). At the venue, smart waiter, Gareth (Warren McGrath) and his ancient, accident-prone assistant, Alfie (Don Callison), are serving cordon bleu food for the celebration. The barman (Garry Davies) tries to deal with the demand for drinks.

       Will love blossom? Will anyone ever get married?

The soft background music was arranged and played by Josiah Pad. The costumes, and there were a few unusual ones, were crafted by Michelle Sharp who was assisted by Barbara Lovell.

With Francis’s demand for food, Cally Zanik was kept busy with the preparation of multiple courses for the dining scene.

The play is refreshingly different. It is a blend of farce, slapstick, pantomime and is partly in the style of a series of plays (‘The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate‘) which I cannot stand. With the actors playing straight to the audience, and even becoming slightly involved with them, this was a new kind of humour.

Director, Vanessa Jensen was so lucky in getting Chris Bedding to play the part of Francis. Chris, who is a man of the cloth – no, he is not a window cleaner – specialises in impromptu comedy, where the comedians have to think rapidly as events unfold. He was magnificent in this play, and had all of the body actions. He carried the show. A good comedian often requires a good ‘feed’ man, and the rest of the cast all excelled with their lines and timing. Could Chris be nominated for next year’s Finleys?

There were numerous styles of dialogue for the very different interesting characters; for Pauline she was superb as the dumb daughter, and then there was Rachel who had to deliver a lengthy explanation, in medical terms, of her zygotic structure – hilarious. Poor Alfie must have to lie down for a few hours after every performance.

This show was one constant belly laugh from beginning to end.

The word went rapidly around as to how extremely funny this play is. Every house has been fully booked, and with the demand is still being there, I wish there was another week.

The two-week season ran at The Melville Theatre on Stock Road until Saturday 5^th December.

The scene is a storage and audition area of the Melville Theatre. To the right, on the stage apron, is the office. Central, in front of the stage at auditorium level, is Justin Freind on keyboard.

Jeff Hansen and Ben Cooke’s lighting setup is operated by Susan Lynch.

        The theatre’s most amazing thespian ever – in his eyes – Charlie (Alan Kennedy) is ignoring the committee’s desire, to have a musical representing their three decades of performances. Charlie wants the high drama of Shakespeare and Greek tragedy. Wisely, the committee have hired party co-ordinator, Fredrick (Sean Bullock alternating with Garry Davies) to make their celebrations swing. This led to wonderful light-hearted banter.

       The show started with first of the nine musicals that have appeared in the hallowed hall over the past three decades. So, with a rousing chorus from the cast of ‘A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum’ the show had a great start. Then Stan Schirmer and Trinity Ellis tunefully reminded us of ‘Scrooge’.

      The two next shows were presented by the soft voice of Ellie Hart in ‘A Chorus Line’, followed by the powerful, operatic voice of Katherine Freind in ‘The Dancing Years’. Her husband, Justin Freind, then joined Katherine as they jitterbugged and Charlestoned to the ‘The Boyfriend’.

       The laugh of the night went to Neroli Burton as she represented the ‘Old Time Music Hall’, gradually replacing the musical ‘bars’ with alcoholic ones.

       Amy Gunnell, Trinity Ellis, Amelie Broadbent, Amy McCann, Erin Whitehead gave an inspiring chorus of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’. ‘Sunrise, Sunset’ followed, it was outstanding with a rendition from Michael Trestrail, Julia Hern, Alyssa Billington, Blake and Cooper Jenkins.

      A sensitive and poignant version of ‘Marilyn Munroe’ from the musical ‘Blood Brothers’ was sung by Julia Hern and Darren Peterson; and as the tissues were put away, Ellie Hart joined in for the next song.

       ‘The Sound of Music’ was the winner of the Finley Award in 1984 – here it gave a rousing ending to this fun show. Katherine Freind and Children’s Chorus gave it their all. It rounded up with little Cadence Smyth giving a beautiful finale. Matilda Jenkins soft-shoed along with the lively final chorus.

The standard of singing and choreography was very high. Even the youngsters could belt out their pieces without losing tune or stumbling. Pleased I caught this show and look forward to the next celebration in 2045.

Sadly, Nora recently died aged 71, of acute myeloid leukaemia.

This series of brief monologues is being presented by the Melville Theatre Company, at the Melville Theatre on the corner of Stock Highway and Canning Highway, Melville. This production can be seen at 8.00 pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings until 19^th September. There is one matinee at 2.00 pm on Sunday 13^th September.

The attractive set, comprised four, open, wardrobe units, with colourful hatboxes on a shelf above. The garments hanging on the racks were in groups of mauve, red, green and burgundy (décor by Barbara Lovell, Kit Leake). At the side of the stage apron, was an office set – thanks to Peter Bloor, Ross Bertinshaw, Susan Lynch, Jacob, Lars and Vanessa Jensen.

The lighting and sound (Lars Jensen) were well designed and operated, with some clever touches to create the correct mood. At one point the luminescence even matched the script dialogue – electric blue.

       The narrator, Gingy (Joy Northover) sits at the side of the stage with an easel of beautiful artistically drawn fashion cards (superb, but no credit in programme) that remind her of her lifetime of outfits. Some getups bring warm memories, whilst others make her cringe. The garments recall three marriages, along with various tragedies. Her lifespan of clothes begins with a Brownies uniform and extends through many eras of her life.

     With four women (Cassandra Gorman, Petrina Harley, Sue Lynch and Kayti Murphy) dressed in black, playing numerous characters, we hear of parents’ inability to choose trendy clothes – preferring ‘sensible’, the first bra, to the little black number for the school ball.

     Then there are the magical materials of the day, healthy woollen outfits knitted by Grandma, sugared cotton dresses through to Spandex. Then there are those beautiful leather boots, and the matching accessories.

      We learn how many lovers lost to the wrong choice of clothing.

Vanessa Jensen is one of Perth’s most respected directors, so not surprisingly the direction of this show was slick and beautifully paced. When friends are relating an event, there is always one who can really keep you open-eyed and anticipating the next part of the story; Vanessa has her whole cast doing this. The actors’ faces and bodies illuminated their deepest inner thoughts. In short, two or 3-minute episodes for dozens of topics are examined in this lifetime capsule of clothing; most episodes have the audience laughing aloud.

At first glances, this looks like a ‘chick play’, and certainly, the ladies in the audience in their own daily lives, will have experienced most of the observations. However, the men were laughing just as much, as they saw their partners portrayed on the stage.

The style of this show reminded me of ‘The Vagina Monologues’, but on a much lighter level.

When the whole audience leaves the theatre with a broad smile, then you know the show is a hit.

Great fun, from a strong cast working perfectly as a team.