'Servant of Two Masters' to perform at Avignon Festival in Paris
For actors in “The Servant of Two Masters,” a computer screen and an ocean separated them from their director.
After performing first for a panel of JMU professors to be selected for the cast, the group then auditioned for French director Jean Petrement through Skype sessions.
The play tells the story of Beatrice and Florindo, two lovers searching for each other. What they don’t know is that they both have the same servant, Truffaldino.
This July, the cast of “The Servant of Two Masters” will be performing in Paris at the Avignon Festival — one of the oldest continuing theatre festivals in the world — after a JMU performance April 24-29. The cast will perform 10 times at the festival.
To prepare for the festival, the group is working under Petrement, who also directs Theatre Bacchus in France.
Because of distance, a language barrier and the unreliability of online video chatting, auditions focused mainly on physical movement, and “not about what was necessarily coming out of our mouths,” said Alex Towers, a junior theatre and dance major performing the role of Truffaldino.
“Anytime that we can partner with such a prestigious company as Theatre Bacchus and take our art to a prestigious world-renowned theatre festival, that raises the level of awareness of the high-quality work we are doing here,” said Kevin “Wolf” Sherrill, assistant professor of theatre who will play the role of Pantalone, a greedy old man.
“Servant of Two Masters” was written in 1743 by Carlo Goldoni and is rooted in the Italian commedia dell’arte. Commedia is based on improvisation, using archetypal characters and stock scenarios, emphasizing comedy through body language and physical movement.
“This is the first time that commedia [has] really been written down in a script,” said Mike Swan, a junior theatre and dance major who plays the character of Dr. Lombardi, an intellectual know-it-all.
Traditional commedia is almost circus-like, with singing, acting, dancing and juggling, and Petrement has infused these elements into the show. Petrement, whose daughter’s fiancé is a professional swordfighter, has also taught the ensemble how to fence.