PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Community Players will stage a special premiere performance of “One Man, Two Guvnors” to benefit the Port Angeles Food on Thursday, a day before a three-week run of the show begins.
Showtime on Thursday will be at 7:30 p.m. at the Playhouse at 1235 E. Lauridsen Blvd. Doors will open at 7 p.m.
The play’s scheduled three-week run kicks off the following night and plays through May 21.
On Thursday, Eric Evans of the Parking Lot Pipers of Port Angeles will pipe the audience into the theater. Inside will be a food and supply donation area and a bar with alcohol and other drinks, a special production cocktail and coffee service.
Tickets to the special benefit performance of Two Guvnors are $25 available exclusively through the Port Angeles Food Bank (not through the Playhouse) at portangelesfoodbank.org, at https://secure.givelively.org/event/port-angeles-food- bank/one-man-two-guvnors, at tinyurl.com/twoguvnors, or at the door by card, check or cash.
All proceeds from Thursday’s ticket sales will benefit the Port Angeles Food Bank.
All seats for the evening are general admission. Donations also can be made at the ticket link or by texting HUNGRYMAN to 44321.
The food bank’s most needed items are non-condensed soups, shelf-stable entrees, peanut butter, and canned vegetables and fruit.
The three-week run begins Friday with a 7:30 p.m. performance at the Playhouse, on the main stage.
It continues Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m. and Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., with shows also scheduled at 7:30 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Tuesdays, with a 2 p.m. matinee on Sundays through May 23. Tickets are $18 for adults and $9 for students. Tuesday performances are $9 at the door.
Tickets can be purchased at pacommunityplayers.org or at the box office on the day of the performance.
The Mother’s Day performance, on May 14, will offer a special limited seating tea bruncheon on stage before the show at 11:30 a.m. Mother’s Day Tea bruncheon tickets are $22.
“One Man, Two Guvnors” is the Players final show of the season.
The play is based on “The Servant of Two Masters,” a comedy by the Italian playwright Carlo Goldoni written in 1746.
In this new English version by Richard Bean, sex, food and money are high on the agenda with physical comedy, some bawdy humor and audience interaction at the forefront.
It is an award-winning British farce that takes place in 1963 Brighton, England.
The plot is based on the escapades of Francis Henshall, a failed skiffle player, who is obsessively hungry and just looking for his next meal.
Fate suddenly takes a turn for the better when Francis finds himself employed by two guvnors. All Francis needs to do is keep them a secret from each other to earn double the money and enjoy all the food he could want.
Sounds simple.
Unfortunately, the two guvnors have their own baggage in life, causing Francis some unique challenges. One guvnor, Rachel Crabbe, is disguised as her dead gangland twin Roscoe so she can collect a debt owed by a gangster, Charlie “The Duck” Clench to be paid upon his (i.e., Roscoe’s) engagement to The Ducks daughter Pauline.
The other guvnor, snooty toff Stanley Stubbers, killer of Roscoe, is hiding from the police and is secretly the lover of Rachel. Neither knows the other is in Brighton, and Francis must keep it that way.
Doable, but not simple.
Despite the resourcefulness of Francis, he reaches the limits of his talents when trying to serve both guvnors dinner simultaneously in adjacent rooms.
Bouncing between his two employers like a shuttlecock, he finally finds help from willing and unwilling audience members.
Show director Faylee Favre is modeling the show style after the 18th century Italian theatre form commedia dell’arte, which would have been used in the original version, “The Servant of Two Masters.” The actors give the commedia dell’arte its impulse and character, relying on their wits and capacity to create atmosphere and convey character with little scenery or costume.
For more information call 360-452-6651 or e-mail Pacommunityplayers@hotmail.com.
