Paul Benson
Reporter
The repetition and monotony of everyday life can bog a person down. Treat yourself to something new once and awhile. For instance, the new Parkland play directed by Michael O’Brien, “The Servant of Two Masters,” is an enjoyable treat chock-full of jokes. Showtimes are still available from October 5th to the 7th at Parkland’s second theater stage. “The Servant of Two Masters” is an 18th century traditional Italian commedia dell’arte play that’s been translated and adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher and Paolo Emilio Landi. The Parkland performers have adapted the play further to be a modern day sitcom set in the 1950s. Given the short amount of rehearsal days, the cast and crew did an outstanding job at breathing new life into what was originally an 18th century Italian comedy.
The play starts off with the engagement of Silvio Lombardi, (played by Matthew Harper), to Claire D. Lunie, (played by Gabrielle Smith.) positioned behind the lovers are their fathers, Coach Vincent Lombardi, (played by Jarrod Finn,) and Mr. Phineaus Lunie (played by Dave Heckman). Two other characters also stand on opposite ends of the scene. Claire D. Lunie’s maid, Dinah Merle, (played by Zoe Dunn,) is staged on the left side of the scene while the Ho-Jo’s hotel Manager, Eddie Briggs, (played by Neil Ryan) is staged on the right side of the scene. The two lovers and their fathers express their excitement of the engagement. All is well, until Betty Rasponi, (played by Emaline Johnson) shows up dressed like her brother Freddy Rasponi, who recently died. Mr. Phineaus Lunie calls off the engagement to Silvio to keep the arranged marriage with Freddy Rasponi. The Lombardi family is outraged by this outcome and Silvio sets off to win back his engagement. Betty Rasponi is trying to find her lover Fletcher Watusi, (played by Parker Evans) who is entangled in Freddy Rasponi’s death. The main protagonist is Dino Truffel, (played by Jake Smith). Dino is introduced with Betty Rasponi, as he is her servant. While Betty breaks off Claire’s engagement to Silvio, Dino flirts with Dinah Merle. Dino is always hungry and doesn’t have enough money or time to satisfy his stomach. So, when Fletcher Watusi shows up to the hotel, Dino hatches a plan to serve both Betty and Fletcher in order to make enough money to eat. Dino soon finds out that serving two masters is harder than it seems.
The audience is reminded of the TV sitcom theme by having a camera operator roll a studio camera around, pretending to film the scenes throughout the entirety of the play. The theme is also reinforced by an “On-Air/Standby” studio light, a radio commercial announcer, and multiple advertising segments for the product “Fricandeau” at different points in the play. Fricandeau is pronounced as, fricken’-dew, and they change the French meaning of the word every time the product is brought up in the play. All of the Fricandeau skits were written by The The Fricandeau-Wops and have a humorous 1950’s charm. The Fricandeau-Wops are played by: Melissa Goldman, Maya Hammond, Thom Billam, and Lindsay Wisniewski. The sets pieces, props, and costumes had a perfect 1950’s color scheme to them. The lighting was also creative, especially when they mimic water reflecting light from the pool. The hotel diner set was particularly impressive. The symmetry combined with the blue and red color scheme really stuck out. It was especially fun to see the actors utilize the space of the set while Dino is split between serving his two masters.
While the production design is very well done, the performances steal the audience’s attention. Silvio and Claire are very dramatic. Matthew harper’s physical comedy for Silvio never failed to get a laugh. Claire was very full of herself and Gabrielle had a lot of fun playing the character. All of the performers were attuned to their characters. Jake Smith did an incredible job at playing Dino. At one point, Dino jumped over a counter, as he did so, the actor’s silverware unexpectedly fell out of his pocket. The actor didn’t break character and instead enforced a character twerk by immediately pulling bread out of his pocket and eating it. This recovery was brilliant and the actor then played it off as if it was a dilemma the character was facing. An inexperienced actor might not have handled that situation as smoothly as Jake did. Parker Evans as Fletcher is masterful with his facial expressions, making it easy to understand how the character feels. Parker has the audience laughing at more hidden jokes such as looking under his plate to find Dino to more obvious jokes such as his goofy expression while having a romantic daydream. Zoë Dunn was also really good at being expressive and reacted to everything in a very believable manner that was fun to watch. All of the actors did a fantastic job.
There were a lot of memorable moments in this play and a perfect range of humor. There is a pun in the play where all the actors break the fourth wall and stare at the audience as they groan. One line that got me was when Eddie Briggs is trying to persuade two people not to commit suicide, “A double suicide is bad for business.” The audience really liked the idea that the setting of the play is in the Champaign area. Any time a close town was brought up it got a reaction. A good play engages the audience, and the audience were just as wonderful as the performances. If you wanna go out and experience something this weekend, why not try “The Servant of Two Masters?” Treat yourself to a spectacular performance packed with laughs.
