The Venetian Twins
by Carlo Goldoni
Give ‘Em Enough Rope, Graduate Season Victorian College of the Arts
Grant Street Theatre, VCA , Aug 26 to Sept 3, 2007
Reviewer: Kate Herbert on Aug 26, 2007
Carlo Goldoni, the Italian playwright who removed the masks from the Commedia del’Arte actors in Italy, wrote The Venetian Twins in 1745.
It remains a classic comedy and the graduating class of the School of Drama at the Victorian College of the Arts perform it with youthful exuberance.
Director, Gary Down, maintains a rollicking style and a rapid pace allowing the cast to relish the physical and verbal gags. This script is clearly a British translation with English colloquialisms and dialects that are particularly evident in the dialogue of the peasant twin, Zanetto (Brendan McCallum).
The play is set in Verona and the story is a standard Commedia plot of mistaken identity and corruption, masters and servants, lovers and arranged marriages.
The twins, Zanetto, who inherited the family fortune but has the manners and desires of a peasant, and his brother Tonino (Cameron Moore), who left Venice two years earlier in a scandal, arrive simultaneously in Verona. Their resemblance, of course, causes them to be constantly mistaken for each other with absurdly comical results.
Down does not modernise the context of the play so the simple but effective design (Andrew Bellchambers) and classical costumes (Esther Hayes) reflect the period.
The cast of eleven is a versatile ensemble and their energy and vitality enlivens the standard jokes of the Commedia, each actor creating a delightful clown.
McCallum captures the oafish and lusty Zanetto with excellent comic timing. Moore portrays with style and wry wit Zanetto’s educated, genteel brother. Ben Pfeiffer is hilarious as the foppish, craven Lelio and Tim Ross creates a comically sneering, conniving old Pancrazio.
They are supported by a parade of characters. The high status personae include the demure Rosaura (Celia Mitchell), her dignified father Balanzoni (Nick Jamieson), the passionate, abandoned Beatrice (Meredith Penman) and the loyal, love-lorn Florindo (Tim Potter).
The servants include a playful and cheeky Arlecchino (Terry Yaboah), his fiance the pert and wilful Columbina (Julia Markowski) and the quietly obedient Brighella (Michael Wahr).
The Venetian Twins is a colourful and mischievous production that highlights the comic skills of Company 2007 at the VCA.
It plays in repertory with Tom Healey’s production of the French classic comedy, The Imaginary Invalid by Moliere, which runs until September 4.
By Kate Herbert
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