A Servant of Two Masters

A Servant of Two Masters

  • Genre Drama
  • Stage Drama Theatre
  • Premiere23. September 2000
  • Length2:25 hod.
  • Number of reprises162
  • Final performance3. June 2013

Comedy Non Plus Ultra

A Servant of Two Masters, nowadays a classical comedy by Carlo Goldoni, successfully completing the principles of commedia dell´arte, belongs to the jewels of the world repertory. A funny story having a romantic plot controverts with irony the saying “no servant can serve two masters”. The director and author of adaptation Zdeněk Černín together with the scenographer Jan Dušek shifted Goldoni’s work to the present. However, the whole presentation is first of all a dramatic concert of servant Truffaldino acted by Martin Havelka who starts a hurricane of his dramatic art on the stage but also presents his juggling and circus art. For his extraordinary performance he was nominated to a prestigious Thalia Prize in the field of drama.

 

Author

  • Carlo Goldoni

Directed by

Translation

  • Jaroslav Pokorný

Dramaturgist

Setting

  • Jan Dušek j.h.

Alterations

  • Zdeněk Černín

Pantalone Agnivorla

Doktor Palmiro Palmare

Beatrice Rasponi

Silvínek

Florindo Aretusi

Brighella hostinská

Smeraldina

Truffaldino

Servant’s Solo Was Successful

Jiří P. Kříž 1. December -1 zdroj Právo

A Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni performed by the Brno Municipal Theatre is more than a successful start of the season. The director Zdeněk Černín has studied it as a crazy commedia dell´arte assigning the title role to Martin Havelka. The comedy is decorated with a number of excellent comic performances for which the Brno scene is perfectly equipped …

…Martin Havelka set the table of unique studies to an audience. The genre enabled him to consider nothing sacred and so he presents some ideas getting in contact with spectators… Havelka’s comic including his juggling art and unexpected gags exploded roundly like a volcano in the appreciative role of Truffaldino…

…Exuberance, frantic speed, acting up to stop – these will be the main mottoes of undoubtedly very successful presentation in Moša’s theatre...

How Classic Is Made Today

Jana Soukupová 1. December -1 zdroj Literární noviny

… Servant Truffaldino acted by Martin Havelka, currently the most versatile and sturdiest star of the ensemble, makes a separate chapter. Three hours at the stage could really not be managed without a top physical condition. And as the director Černín knows that Havelka can turn plates on a stick or a suitcase on one finger high above his head as a trained circus artist, he was glad to enrich his part with doing such things. Havelka’s Truffaldino is perhaps the most up-to-date one (though he negates it verbally), skate boarding on the stage in ragged jeans. He may dare to communicate with a spectator as of all figures he is the nearest to him…

It Pays off to Serve Two Masters

Vladimír Čech 1. December -1 zdroj Hospodářské noviny

…The presentation by Zdeněk Černín is literally a Comedy Non Plus Ultra as it is written in the subtitle. It is a full-blooded, roguish performance which vocabulary fully reflects the present …

…In short, Zdeněk Černín manifested himself as a genuine theatre expert fascinating an audience with his ideas while, aware of his original profession of actor, is giving a maximum space to his actors to show off …

How to Serve Two Masters

Libuše Zbořilová 1. December -1 zdroj Rovnost

…Clamorous music resonating in the auditorium, double-floor houses damaged by sprayers, actors as swimmers in a Venetian canal make you anticipate that the comedy written by the best-known representative of Italian commedia dell’arte did not come through a revision by Zdeněk Černín without intervetion. Romanticism is replaced with erotic, the cheerful translation by Jaroslav Pokorný is complemented with non-verbal expressions in extemporal replies, plebeian prowess with rural artfulness …

…The current performers mainly want to amuse a young audience to whom the play is made easier to access as it utilizes its language, experience, habits and views …

…As usual, the scene designed by Jan Dušek, a permanent guest, is a pleasant surprise: the panorama of Venice on the horizon, mobile buildings in the front, a moving armchair and a well-thought-out pub interior with simple lighting make together an original artistic experience …

The Brno Servant of Two Masters...

Luboš Mareček 1. December -1 zdroj MF Dnes

The Brno Servant of Two Masters Does Not Know What He Serves to

The presentations of classical texts by Zdeněk Černín in the Brno Municipal Theatre usually show an overrun to the present. The theatre produced like this is literally vivid … Indeed, the director reached for a golden fund of world dramas. Goldoni’s comedy A Servant of Two Masters bears undoubtedly an academic attribute “eternal” …

…Černín together with the scenographer Jan Dušek shifted consistently Goldoni’s most frequently played text to the present. The shift was indicated by a revision, an uncompromising subtitle of Comedy Non Plus Ultra, and finally, by current vulgarism, impudence and noisiness of originally comic and clumsy heroes …

…The Brno Servant of Two Masters wants to be a cheeky, young and cocksure theatre. The presentation used expressional means of action …

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