Humble Boy By Charlotte Jones

Felix Humble, bumbling Cambridge astrophysicist and cricket enthusiast, returns to the family home following the sudden death of his father. Flora, his difficult and demanding mother is determined to make a fresh start with George, a brash family friend. Secrets come tumbling out as Felix tries to come to terms with the past and what is yet to come.

Threads such as Hamlet, horticulture, black holes and beekeeping are woven into this warm and touching comedy which was first performed at the National Theatre in 2001 - winning the Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best New Play and the People's Choice Best New Play Award.

Charlotte Jones is hailed by many as the natural successor to both Stoppard and Ayckbourn for her intelligent and richly comic scripts. Oxford Theatre Guild has a long history of performing to both audience and critical acclaim at the Playhouse.

'This is a marvellous play: harsh and forgiving: sad, very sad; funny, very, very funny...a feast.' Sunday Times

Wednesday 23 February 2011

Half Way!

6 weeks of rehearsals down, 6 weeks to go!

We are having a blast in the rehearsal rooms - Charlotte Jones has written an amazingly funny play and the cast are revelling in the opportunities it is giving them to create vivid characters and hilarious moments.  That is not to say that the play is without a darker side - and these sections are by turns shocking, moving and very touching.  It really is an embarrassment of riches and one that we are enjoying working on.

Friday 11 February 2011

Blocking Complete!

So, five weeks into our process and we have worked our way through the entire play. My rehearsal book is spilling over with pencil scribbles and eraser marks, all in the quest to know what each character is doing at each time.

Now, we move up to four rehearsals a week and our assembly stage of rehearsals. This is where we piece together the play, brick by brick. And while the cast do that, I need to work on writing down all the blocking notes so I can hand them out to our understudies so they can have some idea of what we've been doing without them for the last month!