Theatre: One Man, Two Guvnors, (Five Lunches!)

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We’re at the Theatre later with Jo, Janet & Carol, but before that – Lunch! Janet knows pretty much ALL the Farm Cafés and small eateries in Northamptonshire 😂😂😂😂 so we were in reliable hands! 👍

Today’s choice? ‘New Lodge Farm‘ in Bulwick (pop. 171), about 20 minutes north-east of Kettering. This one has even got a spa (but that’s for another day! – maybe?!)

What a very pleasant surprise this place was! We’ve driven past it gazillion times since we moved here and had never visited! Our loss!!! The area is also a parking area for Camper-Vans/Caravans etc so there was plenty of room for everything (and anything, so that’s probably why they have a spa too!

We ate in their rather airy ‘Lockdown Café’ that was enjoying a busy lunch period (good for them!). It not only served tasty tasty food (cakes too!), it was all delivered quickly and with a smile! 😀

We were all tempted by the CAKE selection, where Ann and I shared the oddly named ‘Banana Split’ Cake – yum yum! 😋. Thirty minutes later, we were all ‘caked out’, and we just had enough time to look around their Farm Shop – and that was impressive too! Wow! That certainly scratched our individual and collective retail therapy itch! I think New Lodge Farm will be somewhere that we are definitely going to return to in the future! 👍👍👍👍👍

With the clock ticking, we headed for the famous Tolethorpe Hall, home of the Stamford Shakespeare Company to see the well-known Play, One Man, Two Guvnors. Last time we saw this was at The Derngate, on my Birthday, in 2014.

Tolethorpe Hall‘s Synopsis

It’s Brighton in 1963, where Francis Henshall, freshly fired from his job, is now a man in search of his destiny – as long as his destiny includes fish, chips, mushy peas, and a pint or two. But with no money and a rumbling in his belly, Francis accepts not just one job, but two. And there’s more to both his new bosses than meets the eye. Guvnor one, gangster on the run, Roscoe Crabbe, is actually his own sister, Rachel Crabbe, in disguise. Guvnor number two is Stanley Stubbers, a public school toff who may have “accidentally” murdered the real Roscoe to win Rachel’s hand. To prevent discovery, Francis must keep his two guvnors apart long enough to earn some money to buy some food. He should be fine, but he can’t stop thinking about chips, and it’s hard to concentrate when you’re hungry and you’ve got two guvnors!
Based on Carlo Goldoni’s classic Italian comedy The Servant of Two Masters, this smash hit comedy is packed with laughs for all to enjoy!

How was it?

With a running time of three hours (including the interval) it was longer than I remember it back in 2014. It’s one of those performances that is ‘laugh-out-loud’ funny – and we certainly did plenty of that!! I’d actually forgotten most of the big punchlines, so that made it even more enjoyable (one of the ‘benefits’ of getting older!) 😆. It was a full house for this afternoon’s matinee and no doubt, it’ll be the same for tonight’s performance – I’ve never seen Tolethorpe so busy!

Scene changes were imaginatively handled with the help of a supporting trio of singers called The Serviettes performing their own take on classics from the 60s.

Sadly (but as expected) no photography was allowed once the performance began, but that was OK as I don’t think I could have handled a camera-phone as well as my giggling! 😮

All in all, then, a really REALLY enjoyable performance. The ‘fruity’ language in places and the main character breaking the fourth wall all added to the enjoyment. It’s not particularly ‘PC’, but if you’re looking for an easy performance to enjoy, where the humour is very physical – this is for you! Go see! 👍