Servant of Two Masters (Italian: Arlecchino servitore di due padroni ) is a comedy by the Italian playwright Carlo Goldoni written in 1753.

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Plot synopsis

The play opens with the introduction of Beatrice, a woman who has traveled to Venice disguised as her dead brother in search of the man who killed him: her lover, Florindo. Her brother forbade her to marry Florindo, and died defending her honor. Beatrice disguises herself as him so that she can collect dowry money from Pantalone, the father of Clarice, her brother's betrothed. She wants to use this money to help her lover escape, and to allow them to finally wed. But thinking that Beatrice's brother was dead, Clarice has fallen in love with another man, Silvio, and the two have become engaged. Interested in keeping up appearances, Pantalone tries to conceal the existence of each from the other.

Beatrice's servant, the exceptionally quirky Truffaldino, is the central figure of this play. He is always complaining of an empty stomach, and always trying to fulfill his hunger by eating everything and anything in sight. In one of the most famous scenes, it is implied that he eats Beatrice's beloved cat. When the opportunity presents itself to be servant to another master (Florindo, as it happens) he sees the opportunity for an extra dinner.

As Truffaldino runs around Venice trying to fill the orders of two masters, he is almost uncovered several times, especially because other characters repeatedly hand him letters, money, etc. and say simply "this is for your master" without specifying which one. To make matters worse, the stress causes him to develop a temporary stutter, which only arouses more problems and suspicion among his masters. To further complicate matters, Beatrice and Florindo are staying in the same hotel, and are searching for each other.

In the end, with Clarice's and Smeraldina's (Pantalone's feisty servant, who is smitten with Truffaldino) help, Beatrice and Florindo finally find each other, and with Beatrice exposed as a woman, Clarice is allowed to marry Silvio. The last matter up for discussion is whether Truffaldino and Smeraldina can get married, which at last exposes Truffaldino's having played both sides all along. However, as everyone has just decided to get married, Truffaldino is forgiven. Truffaldino asks Smeraldina to marry him.

The most famous set-piece of the play is the scene in which a starving Truffaldino tries to serve a banquet to the entourages of both his masters without either group becoming aware of the other, while desperately trying to satisfy his own hunger at the same time.

Themes

One of the main themes of this play is found in the character development of Truffaldino. As mentioned above, he is always hungry. That is his action: it is what he wants in the play. Yet, the play does not end when he finally gets a meal and a full belly; it ends with a kiss shared between him and Smeraldina. Truffaldino, it is implied, was hungry for love.

Characterisation

The characters of the play are taken from the Italian Renaissance theatre style Commedia dell'arte . In classic commedia tradition, an actor learns a stock character (usually accentuated by a mask) and plays it to perfection throughout his career. The actors had a list of possible scenarios, each with a very basic plot, and throughout would perform physical-comedy acts known as lazzis.

Characters

{{#if:April 2008{{#ifexist:Category:Articles to be expanded since April 2008

The characters from 'A Servant to Two Masters' are derived from "stock characters" used in commedia dell'arte . True commedia dell'arte is more or less improvised without a script, so Servant of Two Masters is not true commedia . The stock characters were used as guides for the actors improvising.
Pantalone: The old, rich, lecherous man with a single motive of money.
"In Servant to two Masters", 'Pantaloon' originates in 'Pantalone'.
Arlecchino is the intelligent servant, in "A Servant to Two Masters", 'Truffaldino' is the 'Arlecchino'.
Brighella is the only character whose stereotype has not been translated to the play. In this play, Brighella can be played in several different ways, all of which are open to interpretation. Most commonly, he's portrayed as the 'jolly, enterprising servant' or something of a Jack Falstaff-esque character.

The other characters have all been taken from the stock characters of commedia dell'arte :

• Sylvio = Capitano
• Smeraldina = Columbina
• Il Dottore = Doctor Lombardi
• The Lovers = Silvio and Clarice
• Brighella = See above

Performance history

Goldoni originally wrote the play in 1745 at the request of actor Antonio Sacco, one of the great Truffaldinos in history. Goldoni's earliest drafts had large sections that were reserved for improvisation, but he revised it in 1753 in the version that exists today ^[1].

One of the most successful recent production was of Lee Hall's translation by the Young Vic (2000), for which Jason Watkins received an Olivier Award nomination for his performance as Truffaldino. Other notable English adaptations have been written by Edward J. Dent, Tom Cone for the Stratford Festival, and Jon Mullich which set the action of the play in Prohibition-era Chicago (with the famous banquet scene taking place in a speakeasy) ^[2]. A classic Commedia dell'arte production was memorably staged by the International City Theatre in Long Beach, California in 2001 and Treat Williams once played Truffaldino at the Cincinnati Playhouse.

Adaptations

There have been several cinematic adaptations of the play:

• Harlekijn, kies je meester (1973) (TV) ^[3] - a 1973 Dutch adaptation.
• Truffaldino iz Bergamo (Truffaldino from Bergamo)(1976) (TV) ^[4] - a 1976 Russian TV movie addaptation.
• Sluga dvukh gospod (Servant of Two Masters)(1953) ^[5] - a 1953 Russian adaptation.
• The Oregon Shakespeare Festival adapted SERVANT to massive acclaim in its 2009 season.
• Sluha dvou pánu (Servant of Two Masters) (1994) - 1994 - present day, Czech theatrical adaptation in National Theatre, Prague. Main role impersonated Miroslav Donutil.
• Parson's Nose Productions, a professional classical theater in Los Angeles, produced Lance Davis' one hour adaptation of "Servant of Two Masters" at the Geffen Playhouse and Pasadena Playhouse in 2004.

Notes

1. Banham (1998, 433).
2. ReviewPlays.com, "The Servant of Two Masters"
3. IMDb.com
4. IMDb.com
5. IMDb.com

References

1. Banham (1998, 433).
2. ReviewPlays.com, "The Servant of Two Masters"
3. IMDb.com
4. IMDb.com
5. IMDb.com