Story of two friends

Play by Jack Heifner

by Dinali Fernando

‘Play by Jack Heifner (Performed by Clutch Plays Theatre) Jack Heifner’s Boys Play, a little known play by a little known American playwright (at least to many of us), came to life under pandemic conditions recently.

Set in an unnamed American town in the middle of the 20th century, it is the story of two friends, 16 year old Tom and Joe, who decide to camp in the clearing of a swampy jungle. Tom (Heshal Peiris) is the all-American football hero, butch, brazen but hurting inside, contrasting with the smaller, sensitive, and the really more gutsy and reflective Joe (Mohammed Nismeth). 

They talk through the night, grappling with complicated issues of growing up, with a mix of bravado, raw emotion, tenderness and sexual tension, each one facing, in his own way, the prospect of an unknown adulthood. The complications of Tom’s young life unfold in emotionally charged outbursts, Joe the perfect counterpoint and the dramatic foil. The possibility of physical violence, even sexual violence, is ever present. The conversation is poignant, and at times even predictable, until their yearnings merge with the surreal myths of the jungle swamp into the future of the surprise ending. 

All this takes place in the atmospheric setting of a modern meda midula of a suburban house,  with a tiny audience of 20 seated on three sides of this architectural clearing.  The carefully observed pandemic regulations lent to the atmosphere. We were masked voyeurs, silent and complicit in our indifference to the universal vulnerability of youth, but at only two rows deep, close enough to feel some of that raw emotion.

The dialogue was earthy, realistic, and the two young actors handled their roles with easy confidence, holding our attention for nearly an hour. Physical movements were deft, but silences and pauses could have been better exploited, especially in some of the tense moments of the play (one felt like shouting “slow down!” a couple of times, like a backseat driver). But all in all, this slick, minimalist production – no maudlin background music, thank goodness – that I saw almost by chance on the second day (often the best day) of a four-day run was an unexpectedly pleasant theatrical experience.  It is a promising start for a new theatre company in the middle of a pandemic, when the theatres remain closed, and theatre-goers have been rather starved of non-virtual entertainment.  I hope director Mayaan Haputantri and his group will visit a few more meda midulas with this play, and I am cautiously excited about what they will do next.

Boys Play by Jack Heifner was performed privately by Clutch Plays Theatre last month. Directed by Mayan Haputantri. 

Cast:

Tom – Heshal Peiris

Joe – Mohammed Nismath 

Director – Mayaan Haputantri 

Assistant Director – Rivi Wijesekera

Company: Clutch Plays Theatre 

\President – Mayaan Haputantri 

Secretary – Saranie Wijesinghe 

Treasurer – Ashiq Dole

Vice-President – Pravin Jayasundere