Background
Humble Boy is a play inspired by Hamlet. “Charlotte Jones knows her Stoppard, her Hamlet, her Ayckbourn, and among other things perhaps the fourth book of Vergil's "Georgics" on the subject of Aristaeus's bees.”
Charlotte Jones draws upon techniques of Tom Stoppard in applying multiple layers of what seems to be random events, people, movement, and philosophies. Jones, “offers a play with inklings of the aforementioned Hamlet, bees, horticulture, theoretical physics (specifically, super string theory), anosmeia, swing music, and the elusiveness as well as the playfulness of language.”
Thoughts of playwright Alan Ayckbourn are also apparent in Jones’ work. “Set entirely outdoors in the Humbles' garden (Ayckbourn territory), we witness the Humbles' domestic struggle (definitely Ayckbourn here), Felix's confrontation with his past, and his own mental difficulties in maintaining his familial and professional responsibilities.”
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