HUMBLE BOY.
London
HUMBLE BOY
by Charlotte Jones
Gielgud Theatre To 30 November 2002
Mon-Fri 7.30pm Sat 8pm Mat Thur 2.30pm & Sat 4pm
Runs: 2hr 25min One interval
Tickets 0870 890 1105
www.rutheatres.com
Review: Ian Willox 1st July 2002
Physics of the human heart gets a skilful dramatic dissection
Humble Boy manages to give the impression of a great deal going on by simply talking about it: usually the sign of a good play. The writing aims high, conflating the extreme reaches of theoretical physics with the equally unfathomable depths of the human heart. And it succeeds, if not in solving these great unknowns, in at least invoking the optimism to search for the answers. Not bad for a West End show.
It also makes the audience laugh and leaves them entertained and happy.
The play begins in a great green bowl of an English garden in high summer. Lush grass almost obscures the scented roses. A solitary red apple dangles from a branch. Dominating the whole space is a phallic straw beehive. Into this Eden staggers Felix Humble, running away from his father’s funeral. He’s tormented by the sound of a single bee. But he knows his father’s bees have been removed on his mother’s orders.
Felix is more than a little confused. He is a theoretical physicist who is failing in his chosen task to reconcile general relativity and quantum mechanics; he is failing to come to terms with his father’s death; failing to come to terms with his mother; failing to notice that he fathered a daughter with Rosie, his lover of seven years ago – and he hasn’t even noticed that his mother is having an affair with Rosie’s father.
Adrian Scarborough as the perpetually puzzled Felix Humble carries the show. Maria Aitken, who plays his mother, seems perfectly cast as an English country widow recovering from a nose job but doesn’t quite have the range to convince that she was once a Bunny Girl. Anna Calder-Marshall, as the widow’s put upon friend and doormat, on the other hand, is a constant delight, sliding endlessly between comedy and pathos.
And William Gaunt (Rosie’s Father) pissing his way downstage (with, it has to be said, a prosthetic penis) will long be remembered – especially by those in the front row of the stalls.
The result is a well-made show that doesn’t leave the unpleasant aftertaste of artificial additives that can sometimes spoil the West End experience.
Felix Humble: Adrian Scarborough
Mercy Lott: Anna Calder-Marshall
Flora Humble: Maria Aitken
Jim the gardener: Peter Blythe
George Pye: William Gaunt
Rosie Pye: Sophie Duval
Director: John Caird
Designer: Tim Hatley
Lighting: Paul Pyant
Music: Joe Cutler
Sound Designer: Christopher Shutt
2002-07-04 00:34:38