A Servant to Two Masters. Questo articolo non è disponibile.A Servant to Two Masters

A Student Edition of the classic 18th century commedia A Servant to Two Masters, by Goldoni and adapted by Lee Hall, which includes a plot synopsis, a commentary on the historical context, and on the themes, characters, language andstructure of the play, as well as questions for further study.

Carlo Goldoni (1707-93) was an Italian dramatist born in Venice who wrote over 200 comedies, tragedies and tragicomedies in his lifetime. Goldoni settled in Paris in the 1760s, directing the Comédie-Italienne there. In 1783 his company moved to a new theatre on the street now known as the Boulevard des Italiens; they merged with the Théâtre Feydeau to form the Opéra-Comique in 1801. His works include tragedies: Rosmonda (1734), Griselda (1734); tragicomedies: Belisario (1734), Rinaldo di Montalbano (1736); and comedies such as The Servant of Two Masters (1745) and The Mistress of the Inn (1751).

Lee Hall has won numerous awards, including a Sony award for his phenomenally popular radio play Spoonface Steinberg, which later transferred to the stage in a production with Kathryn Hunter. His play Cooking With Elvis had a sell-out run at the Whitehall Theatre throughout 2000, after his stint as Writer in Residence at the RSC. His adaptation of A Servant to Two Masters was a smash hit for the RSC and the Young Vic, and continues to tour worldwide. His two Brecht adaptations, Mr Puntilla and his Man Matti and Mother Courage and her Children were both sell-out successes in the West End. Lee Hall was Oscar nominated for his screenplay Billy Elliot.

Joseph Farrell is Senior Lecturer in Italian Studies at the University of Strathclyde. He has written on and translated Italian theatre widely. He is theatre reviewer for The Scotsman, as well as the author of Dario Fo and France Rame: Harlequins of the Revolution (Methuen, 2001), and has edited A History of Italian Theatre (CUP, 2006) as well as Methuen Student editions of Six Characters in Search of an Author and Accidental Death of an Anarchist.