Bruce Nelson as Felix Humble.

Jewel Robinson and John Dow Flora Humble and George Pye.

Left to Right: Louise Andrews, John Dow, Laura Giannarelli, Bruce R. Nelson, and Jewell Robinson.

John Dow, Bruce R. Nelson & Jewel Robinson.

All photos by: Christopher O. Banks

April 21 - May 22, 2005
Humble Boy

Reviewed April 24
Running time 2:30 - one intermission
General admission seating
A Potomac Stages pick for strong performances in a witty English garden play

There are many good reasons to see this enjoyable, often funny and occasionally touching play. There's the ensemble of fine actors, the fine pacing of director Alan Wade, and the unusual twists and literate humor of Charlotte Jones' script. However, the real reason not to miss this one comes when Laura Giannarelli sinks her comic teeth into a pre-lunch blessing which covers all the problems in the lives of everyone at the table. Audiences in this town are generous with their applause at curtain calls and they occasionally break into applause when a performer exits after a particularly wonderful performance, but they rarely interrupt a scene with applause. The audience with whom we saw this show couldn't contain themselves at the end of Ms. Giannarelli's prayer. Neither could we.

Storyline: A scientist returns to his English village home upon the death of his father for a rather wacky reunion with his mother who has always been dissatisfied with village life, the neighbor with whom she's been having an affair for years, the neighbor's daughter with whom the scientist was in love before leaving home, and the woman from the village who at least thinks she's a friend of the family. Then there is the gardener who may be more than he appears.

Still in her thirties, Charlotte Jones is making quite a mark in theater in England. Her In the Flame was her breakout hit in London's West End followed by this quirky, intellectually intriguing and highly entertaining play. Now only four years since its debut, it has had a successful run off-Broadway where it garnered a Drama Desk Award nomination for outstanding play, and has been produced from Oregon to Michigan and now in Washington. While this has been going on, she wrote the book for Andrew Lloyd Webber's latest mega musical in London, the adaptation of the novel The Woman in White. This play demonstrates her fascination with many subjects. Astrophysics is both the profession of the protagonist and one source of the play's witty exchanges (would you name a black hole after your mother?), bee keeping is another (there's that peculiar buzzing in Clay Teunis' sound design, not to mention multiple recordings of Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee") and the plot pulls much from Hamlet while the text is peppered with allusions to Shakespearean lines about getting to a nunnery and an answer to the famous question "to be or not to be."

This cast has a great deal of fun with the material. Bruce Nelson, who is always so good at portraying strange people whose internal thoughts are visible on the surface, is the slightly stuttering, shy scientist suffering pangs over his failures to fulfill his obligations in the past. Louise Andrews and Jewell Robinson go toe to toe with him as the woman he left behind and his mother. Andrews is particularly good at showing the resurrecting affection for him over the course of the play, varying her performance as the play progresses, while Robinson seems to strike one note and stay with it throughout. John Dow is very funny as the neighbor who wants to marry the new widow in order to bring into the open the long-time relationship that has apparently only been a secret from the son who wasn't paying any attention.

Bob Barr makes his Washington Stage Guild debut as the old gardener who is much more that he seems at first. He builds his part from seemingly insignificant to marvelous in the revelation scene in the second act. That scene, however, comes well after Giannarelli's blessing and it is that prayer that will remain as your most vivid memory of spending an evening with this quirky group of British characters.

Written by Charlotte Jones. Directed by Alan Wade. Fight choreography by John Gurski. Design: Tracie Duncan (set) William Pucilowsky (costumes) Marianne Meadows (lights) Clay Teunis (sound) Christopher O. Banks (photography) Michael Glenn (stage manager). Cast: Louise Andrews, Bob Barr, John Dow, Laura Giannarelli, Bruce R. Nelson, Jewell Robinson.

1901 14th St. NW.
Thursdays at 7:30 p.m.; Fridays & Saturdays at 8 p.m.
matinees Saturdays & Sundays at 2:30 p.m.
(240) 582-0050