One Man, Two Guvnors is a new play by Richard Bean based on classic Italian comedy The Servant Of Two Masters, starring James Corden.
Fired from his skiffle band, Francis Henshall becomes minder to Roscoe Crabbe, a small time East End hood, now in Brighton to collect £6,000 from his fiancee’s dad. But Roscoe is really his sister Rachel posing as her own dead brother, who has been killed by her boyfriend Stanley Stubbers.
Holed up at The Cricketers’ Arms, the permanently ravenous Francis spots the chance of an extra meal ticket and takes a second job with one Stanley Stubbers, who is hiding from the police and waiting to be re-united with Rachel. To prevent discovery, Francis must keep his two guvnors apart. Simple.
In Bean’s One Man, Two Guvnors, sex, food and money are high on the agenda.
One Man, Two Guvnors sees Corden return to the National Theatre for the first time since The History Boys to play Francis. Corden has since made a name for himself co-writing and starring in hit sitcom Gavin And Stacey and hosting James Corden’s World Cup Live and, most recently, the BRIT Awards.
Corden is joined in the cast of One Man, Two Guvnors by Jemima Rooper (Her Naked Skin at the National Theatre, All My Sons in the West End, A Bouquet Of Barbed Wire and Lost In Austen on TV) and Oliver Chris, who returns to the NT after starring in Season’s Greetings.
For more about One Man, Two Guvnors at the National Theatre read the First Night Feature or Big Interview with Oliver Chris.