The Man with Two Gaffers is very much the sort of thing we've come to expect of Northern Broadsides. 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 Theatre in Huddersfield in September. Now its come home to the more intimate setting of the company's very own Viaduct Theatre to finish its run. 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. 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.
 | | Barrie Rutter 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. Catch it while you still can! Chris Verguson The Man with Two Gaffers is at Halifax's Viaduct Theatre until Saturday December 9 2006. Tel: 01422 255266 for more details] [Photos:Ìý Nobby Clark] | 
