One Man, Two Guvnors at Norwich Theatre Royal

Last night we were invited to see One Man, Two Guvnors at the Norwich Theatre Royal. It's currently on tour of the UK & Ireland and is in Norwich until Saturday 29th November.

I missed the NT Live showing of this in Ipswich a couple of years ago so I was really looking forward to seeing the show and I wasn't disappointed.

Based upon The Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldini One Man, Two Guvnors is a comedy of full of farce, slapstick, witty one-liners and songs. The music is written and played by the skiffle band The Craze.

Francis Henshall was sacked by his skiffle band so takes up the position of minder to Roscoe Crabbe, but Roscoe is actually Rachel secretly posing as Roscoe after he was killed by her posh twit boyfriend Stanley. Francis also ends up taking a job with Stanley but has to keep his two guvnors apart. Easy, eh?!

Emma Barton (Dolly) and Gavin Spokes (Francis)

What ensues is, quite simply, hilarious chaos.

I, and many others, laughed until we cried. My first port of call during the interval was to fix my make up!

Gavin Spokes is perfect as Francis Henshall and really knew how to work the audience. Without wanting to give anything away there are elements of improvisation and spontaneity in the show and Gavin's comic timing was spot on. #sandwichgate will remain with me for a long time!

A special mention has to go to Michael Dylan, who played the doddery old waiter Alfie. His physical comedy was superb.

Michael Dylan (Alfie)

The rest of the cast were great too; Emma Barton as Dolly, Norman Pace (a comedy hero of mine for a long time) as Charlie Clench, Jasmyn Banks as Pauline Clench, Edward Hancock as the sublime wannabe luvvie Alan Dangle, David Verrey as Harry Dangle, Patrick Warner as Stanley Stubbers, Alicia Davies as Rachel/Roscoe and Derek Elroy as Lloyd Boateng.

I can't recommend the show enough and I would happily watch it again and again. There are still a few tickets left for the Norwich run of One Man, Two Guvnors before they're off to High Wycombe.