Northern Broadsides TWO brand new productions couldn't be more different. The Man with Two Gaffers is very much the sort of thing we've come to expect of the company. Based on a classic Italian comedy, adapted by Yorkshire poet Blake Morrison and produced in association with York Theatre Royal, it is a big play for relatively big theatres. I caught it at the Lawrence Batley in Huddersfield although it does finish its run in Halifax in early December. Vacuum, a new play by Deborah McAndrew, is an intimate piece set in a small vacuum cleaner repair shop and features just two characters. The action takes place in real time - there is no interval... Goldoni's original play, A Servant of Two Masters, is set in Venice but Morrison, who comes from Skipton, moves the action much closer to home. Bradford takes the place of Turin and Muker becomes Bergamot. The Five-Rise Lock at Bingley also plays quite an important role in the play and the Leeds-Liverpool canal brings everything together.
 | | Mark Stratton and Michael Hugo in Vacuum |
Mistaken identities, women dressed as men, love, pomposity...It sounds, well, somewhat Shakespearean and therefore, perhaps, very Northern Broadsides. We even have a very Shakespearean character in the lazy servant who hopes to profit from not just one but TWO masters! He just has to get his comeuppance in the end. Barrie Rutter, who also directs, takes to the title role with a twinkle in his eye. The play is certainly very funny. In the programme notes Blake Morrison talks about the appeal of Goldoni's original: "What struck me when I read it was its intimate, small-town atmosphere - the snide comments on the stupidity of the people from neighbouring places, as well as old-fashioned jokes about the greed, lechery, drunkeness and tight fistedness of the locals." All of these things are delivered with the usual pace and impeccable timing we've come to associate with Northern Broadsides. But what makes it really special is the richness of the language. I sat there thinking Morrison must have invented many of these 'dialect' words. However, he assures us he has made much use of an ancient and large book on the dialect of Craven. If The Man with Two Gaffers seems to be a bit Shakespearean then Vacuum, directed by Conrad Nelson,Ìý seems more reminiscent of Arthur Miller with a touch of Dennis Potter thrown in. At first (if we haven't read the programme too closely or taken much notice of the title) we think we might be in for an evening of comedy. Instead, ultimately, this is something of a rant against the vacuum at the heart of society. Ray (Mark Stratton), a financial advisor, calls on a new client, Mr Ashburner, in his vacuum cleaner shop. The 25-year-old Ashburner (Michael Hugo) has inherited not just the shop but a sum of money from his dead father. Ray seems to have it all - money, a flashy car, a wife at home getting his tea ready, shiny shoes, a nice suit...Obviously he sees Mr Ashburner as one of life's inadequates. But as the relationship between the characters turns and turns again, it becomes apparent that things are just not that simple. Ultimately the play has a bleak message - after all a vacuum is by definition completely empty - but it contains many twists. And then there are the dance and song routines, not to mention the episodes when both characters act out dreams or memories. Do catch this if you can! It contains a lot of stuff you probably didn't know about vacuum cleaners as well asking a few serious questions about life. Two plays then, and two very satisfying evenings at the theatre. One last observation - Vacuum has the smallest cast of any play I've ever seen at Halifax's Viaduct Theatre but by far the most elaborate set!! [After leaving Halifax's Viaduct Theatre on September 26th, is on tour until October 14th; The Man with Two Gaffers was at Huddersfield's Lawrence Batley Theatre and it ends its tour at the Viaduct Theatre on Tuesday 5th to 9th December 2006] Chris Verguson [Thanks to Northern Broadsides for the photos. The photographer is Nobby Clark] | 
