Basra Boy: “The lithe and limber Sticklin plays the 18-year-old slacker Speedy in this world premiere of a play by Belfast native Rosemary Jenkinson.” The Weir: “Skillfully directed by Keegan’s founding artistic director, Mark A. Rhea, it co-stars his wife, the astonishingly talented Susan Marie Rhea …”
This “Basra Boy” succeeds for two reasons: Jenkinson’s ability to write a humorous, poignant but unsentimental play about a close-knit pair of friends and the nostalgia one of those friends feels when the communication between them is lost; and Sticklin’s boundless energy, his ability to sustain convoluted emotions and to shift rapidly from scene to scene and persona to persona, taking the audience on a whirlwind tour of one not-so-bad boy’s life.
In a succinct 70 minutes that pulse with slangy lyricism, “Basra Boy” paints a vibrant portrait of an exuberant teenager and his quirky, down-at-heels community. As brought to life by director Abigail Isaac and the appealing performer Josh Sticklin, who portrays multiple characters, it’s a piece that starts as a funny, antic romp and ends asit’s a piece that starts as a funny, antic romp and ends as a touching tribute to friendship and to the process of growing up…
“Isaac has crafted the production beautifully to make every scene fold into another with minimum fuss and lightning speed. She is aided by the energetic and fearless Sticklin …This is a play not to be missed, and, moment for moment, it’s a performance packed with dynamite and delight.”
The Washington Post “In a succinct 70 minutes that pulse with slangy lyricism, “Basra Boy” paints a vibrant portrait of an exuberant teenager and his quirky, down-at-heels community. As brought to life by director Abigail Isaac and the appealing performer Josh Sticklin, who portrays multiple characters, it’s a piece that starts as a funny, antic
In “Basra Boy,” Keegan Theatre’s new production, a teen aches to join the army, if only to escape the boredom and sheer claustrophobia of small-town life. If the story of a young man bound for the Mideast has a familiar ring, perhaps that’s because it could have easily been set in Topeka or Tennessee or Texas.
But “Basra Boy” takes place in Belfast, home of playwright Rosemary Jenkinson, who has witnessed the current wars affect her own insular community.
Keegan Theatre’s One-Man Northern Irish Punk Rock War Story: “Basra Boy is a Belfast play to its core. The one-man production centers on an 18-year-old Belfast punk, who has a dirty mouth, a penchant for trouble, and who debates joining the Royal Army to fight in Iraq or Afghanistan. It was written in dialect, with plenty of Belfast slang. And, needless to say: Its playwright, Rosemary Jenkinson, is a Belfast native.”
On Saturday, the Keegan Theatre welcomes “Basra Boy” to the Church Street Theater for a world premiere. Penned by Northern Irish playwright Rosemary Jenkinson, the play follows two trouble-making teens in Belfast: Speedy and his best friend, Stig, who wants to enlist with the British army in Iraq.”
A one-man tour de force, BASRA BOY features Josh Sticklin playing all the characters, a thrilling challenge for actor and director alike. “This play speaks to me on many levels,” says Isaac. “It’s about Belfast, our troubled youth, our attitudes toward the war in the Middle East. But the core of this play is a fascinating story of friendship, a story that is uniquely poignant, I think, because one actor portrays both friends.”
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