Rep produces an immoderately good show with ‘Humble Boy’
“You never talk to me properly,” Flora Humble tells her 35-year-old son, Felix.
“You never listen,” he responds.
“Oh stop it! Stop it! Just stop it!” she exclaims.
Such dialogue – precise, caustic and dramatic – characterizes much of the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis’ production of Charlotte Jones’ “Humble Boy.” Jones, a British playwright, won the London Critics’ Circle Theatre Award for Best New Play when “Humble Boy” debuted in 2001. Whether this unmistakably British play would translate successfully to the American stage is the question. The Rep’s production answers in the affirmative. Director Steven Woolf, scenic designer John Ezell and the cast of six actors have put together a powerhouse of a performance filled with humor and tragedy, love and heartbreak.
“Humble Boy” is a play’s play. It reminds us why we go to the theatre. Set in the small Emerson Studio Theatre, the audience sits in close proximity to Ezell’s gorgeous stage, a wonderful bouquet (literally) of lilies and apple groves. Amidst this beautiful garden, however, walks a cast of rather unsavory characters. The play begins with Felix (Chris Hietikko), a theoretical astrophysicist who has returned home for his father’s funeral. Fat, stuttering and incapable of relating to others given his physicist’s worldview, he is the stage’s response to Russell Crowe’s John Nash in “A Beautiful Mind.” Dysfunction, already a staple of the Humble family, soon ensues. His mother Flora (Patricia Hodges) is particularly troublesome – England’s 21st-century version of Madame Bovary. She is restless, bored of country life and searching for quick fixes through a nose job and a new man. With her husband dead, she turns to George Pye (Anderson Matthews) for her sexual healing. The only problem is that George is the father of Felix’s ex-girlfriend Rosie (Rachel Fowler). The two men despise each other for their roles in their loved one’s lives, and as the play progresses, this story of mothers and sons and fathers and daughters unravels in unexpected and compelling ways.
The story, however, is almost inconsequential. This is a play that relies on its crisp, smart dialogue and its moments of short but intense comedy and tragedy. And the acting truly stands out. Matthews, who two years ago approached perfection in The Rep’s production of Edward Albee’s “The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?” is again absolutely terrific in his portrayal of the ferocious libertine George Pye. Hietikko and Hodges, meanwhile, are equally convincing as the Humbles – and heaven knows how he could gain so much weight to play Felix and she lose so much to play Flora. Lastly, Carolyn Swift nearly steals the show as the clueless though sincere caretaker Mercy. Her furious monologue in the second act is one of the most hilarious and awe-inspiring things that the St. Louis theatre has offered in a long time.
The performance has a few important shortcomings as well. The ending is especially disappointing. Already too long and steeped in clich‚, the production does little to make sense of the conclusion. In addition to being rather predictable, the play’s metaphysical denouement comes across as muddled, overly dramatic and boring. There must be some other way to spice up an ending that requires a character’s listing the Latin names of a dozen flowers.
Fortunately, the letdown of the ending does little to take away from the success of the production as a whole. The Rep has provided yet another spectacular performance. It has found just the right play for a small theatre experience and delivers the goods with gusto.
“Humble Boy” runs through Apr. 9 at the Emerson Studio Theatre of the Loretto-Hilton Center at Webster University.
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