The first night of a comedy by Carlo Goldoni “A Servant to Two Masters” took place in October, 2003 in Saratov Academic Kiselev Youth Theatre. The play “A Servant to Two Masters” is composed by the Italian creative team: Director - Paolo Emilio Landi, Scene Designer - Santi Minieko, Choreographer - Lydia Biondi.

Carlo Goldoni (1707 –1793) is a Venetian (Italian) playwright, founder of the national comedy. As one Italian critic once said, “Goldoni’s theater is similar to a large, crowded fair, where you could meet people of any nature and class, but the first place in this fair is occupied by the lower class. Goldoni’s talent revealed itself brightly and broadly most of all in his so-called “Venetian” popular comedies, ”A Servant to Two Masters” in the first place (the play was written in 1745-1753). The plot of the performance, according to the law of the genre, consists of the misfortunes of the beloved, who overcome them and become reunited to the common pleasure. The plot of this play was written by Goldoni for the theater troupe of that time, and the company left on tour. In some years the playwright watched the company perform the play he created and he transcribed the impromptu lines of the actors. This is the unique story of the play “A Servant to Two Masters”. Theater troupes performed in the squares of the towns and villages. Actors were paid often in food or with lodging. They lived precariously between two lives: one of bliss when performing and the other of tragedy due to poverty.

The play "A Servant to Two Masters" in the Saratov Youth Theater is a true revision (adaptation) of the original by the director Paolo Emilio Landi, representing an attempt to overcome the differences of language and convey colorful language of Goldoni’s comedy. The servant in this play is “placed between the double brackets of reality”. The authors of the play made an attempt to reproduce a typical Commedia dell’ arte performance, which may have taken place in a Venetian public square during the middle of the 18th century. This is a play within a play where theater and its secrets are unveiled to the audience. The two plays are the real life of the company and the play, frequently overlapping and leading to an unexpected ending. Truffaldino strives to overcome the limits of serving two masters, while the actor attempts to overcome his limits as a professional and human being. The only escape for him is art. Impetuous development of the events, masks and lively gesticulation, impromptu and parody, direct contact with the spectator make indispensable conditions of Commedia dell’ arte existence. French plot, Italian spirits together with vivid and inspired performance of the Russian actors are the result of Paolo Emilio Landi’s adaptation who combined Goldoni’s classical comedy with high dramatics psychologism. The play of the Saratov Youth Theatre is highly popular with the audience. This play was presented in the international theater festival “Summer Fountain”, which was held in Rome, July 2004. Actors:

Pantalone, the old, rich, lecherous man with a single motive of money	Osherov Yury Petrovich
Clariche, his daughter	Krasnova Elena Alexeyevna Voloshina Zhanna Vasilievna
Doctor Lombardi	Emelyanov Valery Nikolayevich
Silvio, his son	Chernyshev Alexey Nickolaevich
Beatriche Rasponi, from Turin, in men’s clothes, using her brother Federigo’s name	Vovnenko Elena Vitalievna
Florindo Aretusi, from Turin, her beloved	Volodarskiy Ilya Borisovich
Brigella, the inn’s owner	Skachkov Dmitry Valentinovich
Truffaldino, Beatriche’s and then also Florindo’s servant	Shchedrin Anton Yurievich
Zmeraldina, Pantalone’s servant	Shanina Victoriya Victorovna
Sponsor	Konev Vladimir Ivanovich
Brigella’s servant	Krivega Alexey Vladimirovich
Actresses	Beskrovnaya Anastasiya Sergeevna Samokhina Victoria Anatolievna
Director’s Assistant	Rotachkov Alexey Gennadievich
Prompter	Divlyatshin Ruslan Sergeevich