Tavonians Theatre Company will be on tour with Humble Boy, an award-winning comedy by Charlotte Jones, which takes inspiration from Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Alan Ayckbourn among other influences, particularly in a hugely funny lunch scene. The story is based around Felix (Tim Sutton), a research fellow in theoretical astrophysics, who returns to his Cotswold family home after his father’s death. The irony is that, while the unhappy Felix’s personal life is fragmenting in front of our eyes, he is seeking a supersymmetry that is to be the theory of everything. Felix’s mother, Flora (Tessa Skola), fails to understand her son and her dark glasses conceal both her anger and the bruises of her recent nose job. Her lover and now her suitor George Pye (Frank Woodcock) is anxious to marry her. George’s daughter Rosie (Jeni Boardman) once loved Felix and was abandoned by him for the greater cause of science. Jim (Mike Rendle) a gardener, and Mercy (Ali Fife Cook) a rather sad busybody neighbour, weave in and out of the action bringing extra dimensions to the turmoil of relationships.
Science is only one of many threads running through the fabric of this play about families, gardening, beekeeping, and the value of words. Above all the play sets out to entertain and make you laugh as much as it wants you to think and to feel. Humble Boy won the Critics’ Circle Best New Play Award following its premiere at the National Theatre.
Reviews of it include:
‘Very very funny... this is a seriously wonderful play.’ Sunday Times,
‘Rich, original, intelligent, funny and touching... I can’t recommend this lovely play too highly.’ Daily Telegraph.
‘Best New Play’ Critics’ Circle Award
Performances will be in Mary Tavy, Tavistock, Meavy, Okehampton, Callington and Upton Cross between 1st and 16th March. For full details visit www.tavonians.org.uk, or phone 08455 196592.