Servant of Two Masters Preview - A Comedy about Love and Lies in the 1980s

For the past 3 years, Faust International Youth Theatre's Stage Group (with actors ages 15 to 18) has tackled the bard with the passionate and action packed Romeo and Juliet, the intense King Lear and the poetic, absurdist landscape of Waiting for Godot. After 3 years of tragedy, it was time for a change.

For Stage Group’s latest production, we turn to the mad world of commedia dell’arte – a 16^th century Italian theatre genre. Modern comedy owes a lot to the absurd and hilarious characters of commedia dell’arte.

Arlecchino, Pantalone, Il Capitano, Brighella, Pedrolino, Ruffiana… while these names are unfamiliar, most audience members will recognise the comic archetypes. The quick witted servant, the greedy old miser, the ignorant professor, the sad and lonely loser… we see these character types everywhere in TV sitcoms (Brooklyn 99, The Big Bang Theory, The Simpsons) and films (Crazy, Stupid Love, Hot Fuzz, A Fish Called Wanda.)

Servant of Two Masters is an age old story with a strong plot and structure that has been staged many times before. Most recently it was adapted into the popular West End and Broadway hit, the 1950s set One Man, Two Guvnors. To give our version of Servant of Two Masters an edge and focus, we decided to set it in the 1980s. With its outlandish, colourful fashion, sense of optimism and ambition, this was a perfect fit for this story about fools for love and money.

This production is a big collaborative effort by the entire team. We started with character names and plot but everything else was a blank slate. Everybody worked hard to bring in their ideas and effort for a dynamic creative experience. We improvised and stretched the characters to extremes, played out scenes past the breaking point and drilled down to the moments we thought were worth the audience’s attention.

In addition to the performers, the creative and production team have put all sorts of amazing touches to the show from the funky costumes, to the music selection and dance routines. Part of the thrill of this production is recreating that 80s look and we hope this will bring good memories for our audience old enough to remember cassette tapes, fax machines, walkmans, Casio watches, Rick Ashtley and many more.

Take a leap back in time and come and enjoy the show!

Stage Group’s production of Servant of Two Masters will be staged at the McAulay Studio, HK Arts Centre, Wan Chai from April 19^th to 21^st. Tickets are available through Urbtix. Click here to purchase tickets.

Check out the promo videos for the show below!

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