“I’m an invention of a poet, but I’m alive…”

The premiere of the performance based on the most famous play by Carlo Goldoni “The Servant of Two Masters” took place in the Moscow Gypsy Music and Drama Theater “Romen”.

This is not the first time the Gypsy theater has turned to Italian dramaturgy, and, as a rule, these productions are a success. As the unforgettable Nikolai Alekseevich Slichenko once said, the secret is that the ordinary people of Italy are very close to the gypsies in temperament. But, as the experience of turning to Goldoni’s plays showed – and not only simple ones.

It is hard to believe that the play The Servant of Two Masters was written by the famous Italian in 1749… For more than two hundred and fifty years it has been on the stage, has been filmed many times and is still interesting to the viewer. Viewers of all times and countries fell in love with its protagonist Truffaldino – a truly folk character who outwardly may seem like a simpleton, but as he encounters various life conflicts, he turns out to be a very sharp-witted and resourceful rogue, capable of not only making difficulties for himself and other characters in the play , but also to get out of them in the best possible way, making the audience laugh at the same time.

According to the tradition that Goldoni borrowed from the commedia dell’arte, in his play there are two pairs of lovers (the first is Clarice and Silvio, they are played by Louise Abbasova and Stefan Dzhelakaev, and the second is Beatrice and Florindo performed by Angela Lekareva and Sergey Surakov), two comical old men (Pantalone and Lombardi – Alexander Rubenchik and Andrey Zhemchuzhny), two servants (Truffaldino and Smeraddina – Sergey Bogdanov and Patrina Sharkozy)), who eventually also become a couple.

Unlike other performances of the Romen Theatre, in The Servant of Two Masters you will not see bright gypsy costumes, you will not hear gypsy songs, guitars and violins. This somewhat impoverishes the “palette” of the performance, but gives it even greater dynamism and swiftness in the development of the plot.
“The Servant of Two Masters” is a comedy of positions, and the heroes get into funny situations literally at every turn, although there is a place for tragic events here, because the play begins with the news of the death of one of the heroes.

The leading actress of the theater Anzhela Lekareva, whose heroine, according to the plot of the play, pretends to be a man, is truly virtuoso balancing between the funny and the tragic. The most natural looks Alexander Rubenchik in the role of the old man Pantalone. The Clarice-Silvio couple play their heroes as a parody of lovers who, being separated, literally “lose their human appearance”, turning into a caricature of themselves.
Attractive, charming, charismatic turned out to be the main character – the cheerful merry fellow Truffaldino, who tries to serve two masters at the same time, and naturally, gets into the most unexpected situations, comical for the viewer and very unpleasant for himself and almost costing the lives of both of his masters (he is played by the youngest actor of the theater “Romen” Sergei Bogdanov, and this is his first big role).

The performance turned out to be cheerful, provocative, dynamic, optimistic, it looks in one breath, captivates and captures the viewer, despite the fact that the current political situation does not at all conducive to fun.
In the finale, everyone receives their “legitimate portion of happiness”, love, kindness, forgiveness and reconciliation of all with all triumph.

Marina Mosina.