One Man, Two Guvnors is part play, part show – and totally hilarious. It is a form of commedia dell’arte (or improvised comedy) where the actors are given certain character types and situations and asked to improvise.

The play is based on the classic Italian comedy The Servant of Two Masters written in 1746 by Carlo Goldoni. Goldoni was, single-handedly, instrumental in generating a new form of theatre by adapting the traditions of commedia and placing them in the more structured format of a play.

In this version by prize-winning playwright Richard Bean, sex, food and money are high on the agenda and belly-laughs are widespread and wonderful.

In summary: it’s 1963 and, after being fired from his skiffle band, our hapless hero Francis Henshall becomes minder to Roscoe Crabbe, a small-time East End hood, now in Brighton to collect £6,000 from his fiancée’s dad. But Roscoe is really his sister Rachel posing as her own dead brother, who has been killed by her boyfriend Stanley Stubbers. Holed up at The Cricketers’ Arms, the permanently ravenous Francis spots the chance of an extra meal ticket and takes a second job with one Stanley Stubbers, who is hiding from the police and waiting to be re-united with Rachel. To prevent discovery, Francis must keep his two guvnors apart – all of which leads to an evening of hilarious farce and mischief.

One Man, Two Guvnors opened at the National Theatre in 2011 to widespread critical acclaim. Following this it transferred to Broadway to even more acclaim and a Tony award. It won the 2011 Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best New Play with the Daily Mail calling it ‘the funniest play in the world’.