Photo by Michael Brosilow
Madeline Calais-King and Josh Krause in Next Act Theatre's 'Boswell'
Next Act’s Boswell takes the audience on parallel adventures dealing with companionship, prejudice and identity. And for someone who knew very little about Boswell going in—save for my dad’s commentary on his “rather boring, if I recall” biography on Samuel Johnson—I felt that I had, like the play’s modern-day protagonist, “tunneled to a different world,” coming out on the other end with improved knowledge and perspective. Not to mention, quite a bit of respect for the “scribbler,” himself.
Because the play takes place across two separate timelines, the set defines itself tonally rather than temporally. Monstrous tomes line the bookshelves, and rugs and crates fill the edges of the floor. A large map of Scotland covers the back wall, as a hint of what’s to come, for all roads in this play lead to Boswell’s home country.
Our path into the past lies in Joan, a grad student at the University of Chicago performing research on Samuel Johnson. At the talkback post-show, playwright Marie Kohler explained that a director had once given her the advice to always provide a link between an audience and a period piece: “You can’t just presume an audience will be interested.” As a literary nerd myself, I certainly was, but the parallels drawn between Boswell and Joan fleshed out the story uniquely.
Flighty Young Man
Boswell, a flighty young man who refuses to keep a chip on his shoulder despite the derision espoused by his contemporaries against his homeland of Scotland. And Joan, a woman from the Bronzeville neighborhood in the southside of Chicago, who has always needed to put up walls to protect herself. Josh Krause plays Boswell with great levity and sincere charm, despite his proclaimed melancholic disposition, that could melt the ice around any heart. Meanwhile, Madeline Calais-King (Joan) does not attempt to make her unapproachable character seem relatable to us, just because she breaks the fourth wall. Instead, she commits to Joan’s cold exterior, keeping us, and all those around her, at arm’s length, making her transformation by the end that much richer.
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The ensemble of supporting actors was impressive in their versatility and provided ample comedic moments. At times, the jump in characters itself gave cause for laughter: Sarah Zapiain’s switch from Joshua Reynolds (a contemporary of Boswell’s) into Louisa (a lover of Boswell’s) was particularly fun.
The primary arc of the play, however, lies in the (sort of) simultaneous trips to Scotland. Boswell and Johnson (Brian Mani) explore the craggy land of the country while strengthening the bonds of their friendship. Their relationship, though rooted originally in an idolization on Boswell’s part, remains equal. The two actors make a darling pair; Krause’s Boswell admires Johnson but refuses to alter his excitable personality or deny his love for his homeland, and Mani’s Johnson wouldn’t want him to do so. Mani allows Johnson’s gruff exterior to not so much fade away but rather reveal itself to have never been that gruff after all.
Questions of Identity
Meanwhile, Joan has found her way to Edinburgh and is forced to confront her own prejudices. The Lady (Heidi Armbruster), the proprietor of the collection into which Joan delves, refuses to let Joan remain unchanged. Armbruster’s delivery of the Scot’s humor was dry as a desert, cracking jokes constantly, but she also managed to tug on our heart strings when she gave Joan some tough love.
Boswell brings up a question of national identity—both for Boswell’s Scotland and Joan’s United States (but Chicago, especially, as she’d remind you): where do we come from, and how does it shape who we are or become? And when one strives so far to differ from that identity, is that not still, in a way, inspired by the thing itself? How does one seek to break free unless they know from where they are escaping? And I’d be remiss not to mention that the use of Gaelic in the script added a wonderful linguistic layer to a story already ripe with cultural exploration.
And somehow, the production still never takes itself too seriously! Next Act’s Boswell is the perfect show for a romantic, a cynic, a comic, or anyone who’s really ever felt anything.
Boswell plays through December 14 at Next Act Theatre. Tickets can be bought by calling the box office (414) 278-0765 or online at nextact.org/show/boswell/
