A madcap British comedy with roots in an Italian farce has landed with a load of laughs at The Hill Arts in Portland.

Richard Bean’s 2011 play “One Man, Two Guvnors” is based on an 18th century commedia dell’arte play that has been revived and adapted in one form or another on numerous occasions (some may remember a production by the Freeport Players in 2017).

In this latest Good Theater production, Artistic Director Brian P. Allen and show director Sally Wood have tasked an impressive cast of local favorites and new faces with taking on all the zany character roles and uproarious situations in the show. With a few light touches of social commentary mixing freely with naughty double entendres and tons of slapstick wackiness, “One Man” moves between several levels of comedy in delivering two hours of fast-paced fun.

The play’s action gets underway in early 1960s Brighton, England, when an intrepid but slightly offbeat unemployed musician named Francis Henshall suddenly finds himself in a position to work for two well-to-do men (his Guvnors), though each must necessarily not know of the other. Concealing the Guvnors from each other while following their orders presents a series of challenges and many opportunities for frantic efforts on the part of an easily confused Francis to serve them both while securing a meal and later a girl for himself in the process.

Local theater favorite Dustin Tucker takes the lead in his first Good Theater appearance. His Francis is everything you’d want him to be. He’s a likeable dolt with a twinkle in his eye that lets the audience know that, though he appears to be behind the curve on keeping up with the bunch of twits and ex-cons who surround him, he’ll always find a way out of his temporary binds.

Occasionally addressing the audience and, in one instance, employing one of them, Francis is a character made for Tucker’s comedic skills at revealing the sly wit often lurking within a clownish demeanor.

The 10 other members of the cast fill roles from menacing gangsters to shady businessmen to ham actors in love. Each takes advantage of their time at center stage in scenes requiring quick timing (not to mention many variations on a British accent). The sets by Steve Underwood add period context.

Of the two Guvnors, Heather Irish plays Rachel Crabbe, who masquerades as her dead brother Roscoe until her love for his murderer Stanley Stubbins, the other Guvnor played by Nathaniel Stephenson, is revealed. Each succeeds at locating the laughs within their seriously silly roles.

Morgan Amelia Fanning and Pierce Ducker play young lovers at the mercy of ambitious fathers played by local theater veterans Mark Rubin and Paul Haley. The ups and downs of the lover’s relationship weaves into a web of deceit and greed that runs between the middle and lower rungs of society.

Ashanti Williams, Daniel Cuff and Ethan Rhoad play characters that serve the interests of the others while adding a few laughs of their own. And, in the performance under review, director Wood (toting a script) ably took on the role of Francis’ love interest Dolly when an actor became unavailable.

Bits of tongue-twisting word play and comic grandiloquence add to the fun a rousing musical finale that confirms the commitment of all involved in making this show a major comedic treat.

Steve Feeney is a freelance writer who lives in Portland.

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