By Harry Haun
17 Apr 2012

	Richard Bean
	Photo by Johan Persson

Bean always knew he was writing for Corden, but he didn't really know him well, and he didn't think that mattered. "The truth is you're writing for archetypes in this play," Bean contended. "I knew I had a fat guy who was hungry, and that's all you're writing about, really. Because this is commedia dell'arte essentially, you're writing for stereotype stock characters. The characters are so much clearer for the audience. They look at the guy on stage, he says two words, and you know what he is. From that point, it's easier to express their motivations in funny lines."

He made the leap from 1743 to 2012 on the laugh meter with the greatest of ease. "I don't think the human condition changes, does it? We all want food and sex."

Nor has he made special concessions for the Yanks. "The basic premise of this play is that it's 1963, Brighton, British, saucy humor — and that's never going to change. Yeah, we might have changed 'firefighter' to 'fireman,' but you'd be stupid not to."

In point of fact, he's pleased with how in step we are with the English. "I was thrilled to see Americans laughing at gags that didn't get that much in England. The big gags go over much the same as the English, but it's great to find Americans are more responsive — well, not in the big woofers but in the middling, supporting material."

Bean said he's not the kind of playwright who reads reviews. "I'm the kind of playwright who reads good reviews" — so he had a field day with One Man, Two Guvnors: "The first time around The Telegram gave it four stars; the second time around, they gave it five stars, so the press can claim it got five stars from every London newspaper, but that's not what's interesting. What's more interesting is that The Sun, a working man's paper that hardly ever covers theatre, gave it five stars like The Guardian. For a play to appeal to both is something!"

	James Corden and Oliver Chris
	photo by Joan Marcus

Other Bean-Hytner collaborations at the National include England People Very Nice ("It's about immigration so the title is deliberately pigeon-English") and the recent revival of London Assurance with Simon Russell Beale and Fiona Shaw. ("We wouldn't call that 'a version' — we'd call that 'textual revisions'").

"Nick is an extremely good dramaturg. It's really nice to work for him because he's very clear in conception. He knows exactly what he wants to see at the end of the day, which I very rarely do, and he's able to communicate that. I don't mind writing for him. It's a bit like writing an essay for your English teacher. You try to do it well."

In addition to Hytner as director, the play has Cal McCrystal as "physical comedy director." "Cal," said Hytner, "is an amazing, imaginative, skilled director of physical comedy, who's worked with all the great physical comedy companies. He's a great expert at clowning. He's worked with Cirque du Soleil and a brilliant company in England called Spymonkey. The extended physical routines were devised by Cal.

"It was less 'co-directed' than it was 'he did that and I did this.' I think it was pretty clear what each of us was doing, and, in the end, I knew where we were going. I knew we were doing The Servant of Two Masters, but we were reinventing it in terms of popular English comedy, so the perimeters were pretty clear."

One Man, Two Guvnors fits right in with Hytner's directorial agenda, which is no agenda at all and ranges from Miss Saigon and Carousel to Twelth Night and The History Boys. He will follow this current frenetic farce with Timon of Athens, Shakespeare's least performed play, starring Simon Russell Beale. How's that for a snappy change of pace!