: Carlo Goldoni
: The Servant of Two Masters Full Text and Introduction (NHB Drama Classics)
: Nick Hern Books
: 9781780015279
: NHB Drama Classi
: 1
: CHF 7.40
:
: Dramatik
: English
: 160
: Wasserzeichen
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: ePUB
Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price A classic Italian comedy that remains blisteringly hilarious and relevant, over two hundred and fifty years after it was written. Disguising herself as her dead brother, Beatrice travels to Venice to find Florindo, the man responsible for his death. However, her servant, Truffaldino, enters into the pay of Florindo, and struggles to keep his two lives and masters separate. Carlo Goldoni's play The Servant of Two Masters (Il servitore di due padroni) was written in the 1740s, though later revised by its author. It draws on the tradition of Italian commedia dell'arte. This English version in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series is translated by Stephen Mulrine.

Carlo Goldoni (1707-1793) was a Venetian playwright and librettist who, in his plays and operas, developed a unique comedic style that combined commedia dell'arte with a more realistic look at an emerging middle class.

ACT ONE

Scene One

A room in PANTALONE’s house. PANTALONE, DOCTOR LOMBARDI, CLARICE, SILVIO, BRIGHELLA, SMERALDINA.

SILVIO (offering his hand to CLARICE). Here is my hand, and with it I give you my whole heart.

PANTALONE (to CLARICE). Come now, don’t be shy – give him your hand too. Then you’ll be betrothed, and very soon you shall be married.

CLARICE. Dear Silvio, here is my hand. I promise to be your wife.

SILVIO. And I promise to be your husband.

They take each other’s hand.

DOCTOR. Bravo, bravo! So that’s settled now. There’s no going back.

SMERALDINA (aside). Well, isn’t that just lovely? And here’s me burning up with envy!

PANTALONE (to BRIGHELLAand SMERALDINA). You two shall be witnesses to the betrothal of my daughter Clarice to this most worthy son of our good Doctor Lombardi.

BRIGHELLA. We shall indeed, sir, and I thank you for the honour you do me.

PANTALONE. Well, I was a witness at your wedding, and you’re now a witness at my daughter’s betrothal. I’m not keen on having a great crowd of friends or relations, and I know the Doctor is of the same mind. We’d rather do these things without fuss or ceremony. We’ll sit down to dinner together and enjoy ourselves, with nobody to disturb us. What do you say, children – does that suit you?

SILVIO. For my part, I wish nothing more than to be near my fiancée.

SMERALDINA (aside). Obviously – that’s the tastiest dish.

DOCTOR. My son doesn’t care for vanities. He’s a good-hearted lad. He loves your daughter, that’s all he thinks about.

PANTALONE. Truly we may say this will be a marriage made in heaven. For had it not been for the death of my agent in Turin, Federigo Rasponi – you know I had promised my daughter to him – well, if he hadn’t died, my dear future son-in-law couldn’t have had her.

SILVIO. Fortune has certainly smiled on me, though I don’t know if Clarice would say the same.

CLARICE. My dear Silvio, you do me wrong. You know how much I love you. I would of course have obeyed my father and married this gentleman from Turin, but my heart has always been yours.

DOCTOR. That’s true. But when heaven decrees, it will find a way, however unforeseen. (To PANTALONE.) Tell me, sir – how did this Federigo Rasponi die?

PANTALONE. Poor, unfortunate man! He was killed one night – some business concerning his sister, that’s as much as I know. Run through with a rapier, and left for dead in the street.

BRIGHELLA. And this happened in Turin?

PANTALONE. In Turin, yes.

BRIGHELLA. Oh, the poor man! I’m truly sorry to hear that.

PANTALONE. Did you know him, this Signor Rasponi?

BRIGHELLA. Indeed I did, sir. I lived in Turin for three years, and I knew his sister too. A high-spirited young woman, very brave – dressed like a man, a keen