By Marilyn Jozwik
Pack your bags when you go to see Next Act’s “Boswell” because there will be lots of traveling.
To open the show, Joan, a graduate student in the early 1950s, sets her bags down in Scotland to research Samuel Johnson, who is known for his dictionary and has been called the “most distinguished man of letters in English history.” She settles into the home of a Scottish woman who has a collection of pertinent writings and embarks on another journey – that of self-discovery.
Joan is deeply disappointed at first, finding no writings of Johnson, only those of his biographer, James Boswell, whose “Life of Samuel Johnson” is considered the greatest biography written in English. While immersing herself in journals, letters and other materials, she again takes another journey, this one back to the 1700s where the audience meets Boswell, Johnson and friends.
Samuel Johnson (Brian Mani), right, has an intense discussion with James Boswell (Josh Krause) in the presents of friends Mrs. Thrale (Heidi Armbruster), Joshua Reynolds (Sarah Zapiain) and Oliver Goldsmith (David Cecsarini). Joan, a graduate student from the 1950s, observes the scene in back. Photo by Michael Brosilow
A graduate student doing research on a noted English man of letters and his biographer does not sound like fodder for a rollicking comedy. Yet, in the hands of playwright Marie Kohler, and with such colorful characterizations, this story has humor and wit, passion and humanity. Laura Gordon directs.
Joan watches as the characters she’s reading about appear in her midst, all made possible by a richly textured and layered, double duty set of bookcases, Persian rugs, chests, stacks of books, and old artifacts that work for the 1950s and 1700s.
Samuel Johnson was quite a celebrity in the 1760s and James Boswell – whose father wanted him to study law and find a wife (he did both) – is thrilled at the chance to meet him. Born in Edinburgh, Boswell moved to London (which his father called “Gomorrah,” among other things) and lived a libertine life, evidenced by his frequent bouts of venereal disease.
When he meets Johnson in London, he is determined to change the Englishman’s poor opinion of Scots and Scotland. “His putdowns could slice like knives,” says Joan of Johnson, who had words, not only about Scots, but Germans, Lapland, Norway, French (“revolutionary rascals”) and Americans (“who ought to be thankful for anything we allow them short of hanging”). Johnson loved a good culture war.
Joan (Madeline Calais-King), a graduate student researching Samuel Johnson, shows a painting of the famous Englishman, portrayed by Brian Mani, in a scene from Next Act Theatre’s “Boswell.” Photo by Michael Brosilow
He called philosopher David Hume “an atheistic ass” and befriended the noted actor David Garrick, but poked fun at his exaggerated gestures in his portrayals of Shakespearean characters.
The crusty, acerbic-tongued Johnson takes a liking to Boswell and the pair set off to explore Scotland with Boswell hoping to impress. So, playwright Kohler takes the audience on yet another trip. We learn about Johnson – his wit and humor, his stern father, his bouts of melancholy – as well as Boswell as the pair travel the countryside. The wit is nonstop with volleys of clever conversation. Boswell’s chronicling of the trip with Johnson became his “The Journal of the Tour to the Hebrides,” and preceded his biography of Samuel Johnson.
Boswell’s writing about Johnson and their travels is so enthralling that Joan no longer is concerned about finding any writings of Johnson himself. But can she convince her professor to change the subject of her mission? That will take Joan to a whole new place in her academic life.
These are such vivid characters we see in this play, so full of life and passions, hopes and dreams. It’s easy to see why the playwright wrote this role for Brian Mani, her husband. With his white wig and ample girth, Mani matches a picture of Johnson that hangs on the wall and delivers Johnson’s barbs, philosophies and facility with the English language with ease.
As Boswell, Josh Krause is as eager as a puppy and totally engaging. His character grows from being Johnson’s biggest fan to becoming a close friend and confidant, to the point where Boswell feels comfortable enough to vent his feelings of the Scots’ treatment at the hands of the English.
Madeline Calais King as the graduate student, Joan, beautifully juggles all the characters residing in the Boswell works she’s reading. Her intensity grows as she becomes more involved with Boswell’s writing and realizes that her original pursuits have been replaced by something even more intriguing. “Something lost has been found,” she says.
Her interactions with the landlady (Heidi Armbruster), who has a special interest in Joan’s work, are wonderfully done. Armbruster affects a marvelously thick Scottish accent that sounds like English going through a meat grinder and causes considerable, and hilarious, confusion for the Chicago-residing Joan. Armbruster also sweeps in with a flourish as the actor David Garrick.
David Cecsarini and Sarah Zapiain wear a number of hats – as do all performers except Krause as Boswell – and add wonderful, rich layers with their characterizations. I especially enjoyed Cescarini as the Irish writer Oliver Goldsmith and Zapiain as the barmaid. Here, she is at her most endearing, slyly flirting with Boswell and his raging libido.
Even though Johnson proclaims that “travel is highly overrated,” Next Act’s “Boswell” is a trip to be savored and enjoyed.
If you go:
Who: Next Act Theatre
What: “Boswell”
When: Through Dec. 14
Where: 255 S. Water St., Milwaukee
Tickets/Info: 414-278-0765/info@nextact.org