Humble Boy : A Play

Rating:
Summary: Fresh, clever, gentle and poignant
Review: I just saw this play produced at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. There are only so many family skeletons you can expose, and "Humble Boy" borrows liberally from that well-stocked closet. But those it drags out are embodied in well-defined characters and presented with fresh wit, excellent pacing, gentleness, and poignancy. Felix's search for the physicist's "theory of everything" is handled lightly, never bogs down in technical jargon, and never overshadows the characters' concerns of the heart. Although I would have preferred a slightly different ending, it worked because the characters were true to themselves. A wonderful play.

Rating:
Summary: Play is good read
Review: I saw this play in NYC with Jared Harris and Blair Brown and really enjoyed it. It was funny and moving and really had heart. When I picked it up to read it, I wondered if it would read as well -- and it did. This is a very smart play -- Charlotte Jones has written a play where the characters are fully realized and funny -- all the while searching for understanding, connection and love.