The Servant of Two Masters

Carlo Goldoni

Truffaldino is an iconic figure of Italian bourgeois comedy whose ambivalence between two masters and his own ever empty stomach has become popular around the world. Carlo Goldoni’s play is the ultimate treatment of the classic theme based on the servant-master relationship; written in the mid-18th century, it is part of a broader stream of literature and art thematising this unequal relationship, which some intellectuals in revolutionary movements in Europe towards the end of the century attempted to abolish. As much as he draws on the types of Italian comedy, Goldoni moves them into the world of bourgeois society at the time, stripping away the masks and typical costumes and letting his characters come alive in a much more believable world – as if the characters could live, love, and act just down the street.

Director Martin Glaser approached the staging with a peculiar interpretation, making the vagabond Truffaldino into an untouchable cupid, an angel of awkwardness and mischievousness. He builds on the exceptional charisma of Truffaldino’s young portrayer, Viktor Kuzník, and removes the entire play from the shabby hotel setting on the periphery and places it in an opulent baroque palace with many transformations and much magic. The production draws its strength both from the long-established interplay of the Drama ensemble of the National Theatre Brno, using the very many strengths of the individual actors and actresses, as well as from aesthetic precision – which applies primarily to the set and costumes (Petr Vítek and Martin Chocholoušek) but equally to the aesthetic shaping of the individual characters in the acting. Glaser seems to be pushing Goldoni’s play ahead of its author’s bourgeois reform of Italian comedy, and by sharpening the traditional character types to the extreme, he acquires another comic dimension to the play – an aesthetic and artificial dimension that further enriches the situational richness and precision of the famous comedy.

 

Translated by Eva Bezděková
Directed by Martin Glaser
Dramaturgy by Hana Hložková
Stage design by Petr Vítek
Costume design by Martin Chocholoušek
Lighting design by Martin Špetlík

Premiered on 19th January 2024

For those aged 12+
The production is in no way inappropriate; nevertheless, it is not intended for young schoolchildren.

  • “Martin Glaser and his team have not created some museum piece – it is a modern form in which casual updating, playing with the contemporary language of teenagers, and subtle allusions to the much fashionable question of gender or our full-time restlessness, as we know it from the present times, come to the surface. It is in this skilful grafting of the classic text onto the reality of today and modern theatricality, and in the original performance of the protagonist, who does not cast shade onto his acting surroundings, that I see the main strength or magnet of this successful production.” — Luboš Mareček, Lidové noviny

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  • “The makers of this production chose to portray Truffaldino in a conciliatory manner. Kuzník plays the part as a naive young fellow. The chosen interpretation is especially aided by the adaptation of the vocal expression which resembles that of a disbelieving and uncomprehending child – a soft and swinging voice, maintained by the actor in a stylised tone throughout the production. Kuzník manages to keep a fine balance on the edge between functional stylisation and a grimace nearing the point of mockery. He has a flair for hyperbolised gesturing and, with his consistent performance, creates a sympathetic playful hero.” — Adéla Kalousová, Česká televize

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