Say what you will about Yorkshire men, but they do breed a better class of insult. "Mashtub", "ragabash", "fussylugs", "yonderly old sconcehead" are but some of the invectives that spice up Blake Morrison's treatment of Goldoni's Servant of Two Masters.
Eighteenth-century Venice and 19th-century Skipton might not appear to have much in common (except that both relied heavily on canals), yet Goldoni was criticised for writing in the local vernacular, and expressed frustration with translators who missed the point. "I would have wished them to have taken greater freedoms," he said, "for the phrases and style must be adapted to the taste of the nation into whose language the translation is made."
Morrison recognises that Venice, for all its reputation as a world power, was essentially a small town characterised by municipal insularity, chauvinism and gossip. It's remarkable to see how snugly Goldoni's Commedia-derived archetypes apply to the standard market-town populace of pompous mill-owner, pedantic clergyman, fatuous farmer and the like.
Northern Broadsides' chief, Barrie Rutter, gives a characteristically robust performance as the overstretched servant whose ineptitude is invariably rewarded with a "skelping" from his master. And since avarice has led him to hire himself out twice, this generally leads to a double helping of skelping.
Kate Ambler and Simon Holland Roberts provide spirited support as the rival employers who manage to spend the night in the same inn without realising they are engaged to each other.
Morrison's adaptation keeps the comedy spinning along nicely though, call me an old fussylugs, there's an occasional lapse into needless Carry-On crudity. It's unlikely that Goldoni himself would be able to make head-nor-tail of it - in which case, he would probably approve.
· Until September 16. Box office: 01904 623568. Then touring.
