Humble Boy

What’s the Buzz?

Humble Boy

by Charlotte Jones

Barnes Community Players, at the OSO Arts Centre, Barnes until 21^st July

Review by Claire Alexander

Humble Boy, written by Charlotte Jones in 2001, falls into a genre of contemporary plays confronting unspoken long held family misunderstandings and secrets, exposed by grief and loss.  Apologia (Alexi Kaye Campbell) and Albion (Mike Bartlett) spring to mind.  Like Albion, Humble Boy is set in a garden, replete with glorious flowers as if to emphasise the lack of life and nourishment for the family that inhabits it.  And throughout there is the allusion and parallel to the bees – beloved of Flora Humble’s recently dead husband, Jim.  The now empty hive, a prominent part of the set, is a constant reminder to us, as the audience, of how bees’ behaviour can sometimes reflect our own.  This makes for a clever and absorbing mosaic of a play that works on many different levels.

Felix Humble has returned to the family home following the death of his father (an ex-biology teacher and amateur bee-keeper) and we quickly see the fractured and distant relationship between him and his mother, Flora.  Into this discomfort we meet George Pye, local self-made businessman, who crashes insensitively and somewhat brashly into their meeting.  It becomes clear that George and Flora have been having a long-time affair and intend to marry.  And to add to these complexities, George has a daughter, Rosie and needless to say it turns out that Felix and Rosie have also had a fling, ending in unhappiness and resentment.  Rosie has a seven year-old daughter, who is without a father, and no surprises for guessing whom that father might turn out to be. 

Flora’s rather rootless friend Mercy, who seems to have been privy to many of these secrets and resentments, provides some stability to this, but also has much of the cleverly written humour that Jones has woven into the script.  The scene where Mercy, played energetically by Marie Bushell, when preparing lunch, unknowingly adds a spoonful of the dead father’s ashes to the gazpacho, is a prime example.  But Jones is also able to offer a more serious and thoughtful side to her script and, in the case of Felix, especially, some excellent dialogue including a clever combination of references to the art of bee-keeping mixed with the complex science of chaos theory and black holes.  With his genius mind he hopes that somewhere in the universe there is the perfect defining moment that will explain all.

The gardener, is something of a narrator, always in the background, but flourishing in a final touching scene where he shows himself to be perhaps the only person that Felix can trust. Lest you are still to see the play – spoiler alert – I say no more.

Richard Scott, as Felix, creates a strong performance which grows in confidence as the play develops and we are drawn increasingly into his inner world of anxieties, fears and emotions.  He never overplays his nervous stutter, most obvious when confronted by his mother.  Much disturbed by the death of his father, he harbours suicidal thoughts – perhaps a metaphor for an introspective modern-day version of Hamlet.  Susan Reoch as his mother, Flora Humble, plays the “Queen Bee”, whose prerogative is always to have the last word, and, with quiet stillness, she perfectly captures the essence of this dominating, self-centred and controlling matriarch of the family.  Playing George is Ashley Brown, who brings the loud brashness of this dreadful self-made business-man, very much out of his depth in the genteel world to which he aspires.  He says what he feels without any finesse, such as his inconsiderate put-down to his daughter that “she’s not a looker but has character.”  That daughter, Rosie, is played with a highly believable and exuberant mix of playful confidence by Anna Piggott.  I liked the gardener, Jim, played sensitively and with studied under-statement by James Phillips.

If I am to be picky about the collective performances, then it was that, although there are some nice individual characterisations, there was a distantness between the characters on stage.  Everyone had a slightly different performance style which needed to be moulded together more to give a greater cohesive whole.  The strongest performances came from those where they trusted their characters feelings – ‘less is more’ can often be so much more revealing and provide a depth to the performance and the script. 

But overall this is a secure production by Barnes Community Players, with some nice touches and good performances.  They are restricted by the small stage when even a cast of six or seven feels crowded, and this provides clear limitations to imaginative and dynamic staging.  But David Abel, Marion Earle , Amanda Harker and Pennie Baylis in lighting , sound, props and wardrobe have made up for this with a bright set, well accompanied with a great sense of wardrobe, capturing the characters and enhanced by a sympathetic choice of music reminiscent of the English country garden.  Jane Gough, as director, has brought all of this together with sympathy and enthusiasm.

It is my understanding that this production was originally scheduled for 2020 and was one of the many casualties of the pandemic.  It was a pleasure to see it finally come to life with such enthusiasm and energy.

Claire Alexander, July 2024

Photography courtesy of BCP