Showing @ King’s Theatre, Edinburgh, until Sat 29 Oct

In 1743 Italian playwright Carlo Goldoni wrote the classic farce, The Servant of Two Masters. As a genuinely entertaining piece of commedia dell’atre, it would seem risky to modernise it. But that’s exactly what the National Theatre have done, as Richard Bean skillfully adapts the original.

Dispensing with the period setting, Bean relocates the action to Brighton. It’s 1963 and the seedy criminal underworld of this seaside town is laid bare for everyone to see. As the hapless Francis Henshall (James Cordon) finds himself employed by two guvnors, he must remember to keep both “men” apart. Seeing as one’s a gangland boss and the other a wanted murderer, his luck seems to have run out.

Director Nicholas Hytner’s production is infused with an irresistible wit and splendour. Injecting his own jokes and farcical routines, Bean has certainly marked this piece as his own, presenting us with a contemporary farce which does not fall short of the mark. It bears a striking resemblance to that of the Carry On films, full of British humour as no subject is forbidden. Shaking off any remnants of Gavin and Stacey, Cordon’s performance is rooted in its harlequin ancestry. Driven by his insatiable hunger, he sets about mapping the way to madness, even getting the audience involved. Displaying a natural gift for clowning, he revamps the iconic dinner scene with his inability to cook and his impatience at the aging waiting staff.  Although the second act struggles to match the hilarity of the first, Bean’s show can only be described as a pièce de résistance as it leaves the audience in fits of laughter. This is certainly one of the National Theatre’s funniest pieces to date, marking One Man, Two Guvnors as one enormous success.