The Boys Next Door Part 2

I did enjoy reading the play write of The Boys Next Door.  The Boys Next Door is a two act comedy-drama about four men who live together in a small apartment; and jack is their caring social worker who is on the edge of a career burn-out.

For this blog I am going to give a description for each of the main characters…

I’ll first start with Jack: He has been supervising five group apartments of the mentally handicapped. The idea of these apartments is to introduce the selected mentally handicapped housemates to mainstream society. Jack can a lot of times laugh at their escapades but it is wearing him out. The main conflict stems from Jack’s realization that he needs to move on in his life. In one scene addressing the audience Jack says: “you see, the problem is that they never change. I change, my life changes my crises change. But they stay the same.” Jack also seems to be having difficult finding his own life’s purpose…  Even when Jack manages to find another job as a traveling agent, the audience is left to decide whether or not this will provide fulfillment for him…

Arnold: He is the first character that the audience is introduced to. He exhibits several OCD traits. He tries to function in mainstream society, but sadly many people take advantage of him. This occurs in the first scene when he returns from the grocery store. Whenever he is dissatisfied with his life, he declares that he will be moving to Russia. In the second Act he actually attempts to catch a train to Russia.

Norman: I would consider him the romantic of the group. He works at the doughnut shop, and has gained a lot of weight because of all the free doughnuts. He worries about being fat because he has a love-interest, a mentally handicapped woman named Sheila. He does not want Sheila to think he is fat. Sheila and Norman meet twice during the play. Each time he becomes bolder until he finally asks her on a “date”. But he has a conflict with her because she wants his keys, which he refuses to give up. He claims he needs the keys to unlock things. 

Barry: Barry spends a lot of his time boasting about being a Golf Pro (even though he does not even own a set of golf clubs). He puts up an add and attempts to give golf lessons but that slowly dies out as his pupils realize he is out of touch with reality and they all abandon his class. Throughout the play he boast about how wonderful his dad is. In Act II his Dad stops by for the first time ever, and the audience witnesses the brutal verbal and physical abuse that obviously worsens Barry’s already fragile condition.

Lucien: He has the severest case of mental disability among the four men. He is the most child-like of the group. He has a limited verbal capacity. He was summoned before the Health and Human Services Subcommittee because the board might suspend Lucien’s Social Security Benefits. He stands and gives a powerful monologue, which speaks for Lucien and others with mental impairments.

I thought this was one of the most powerful moments of the play write.

Lucien: I stand before you, a middle-aged man in an uncomfortable suit, a man whose capacity for rational thought is somewhere between a five-year-old and an oyster. (Pause.) I am retarded. I am damaged. I am sick inside from so many hours and days and months and years of confusion, utter and profound confusion….But I will not go away. And I will not wither because the cage is too small. I am Lucien Percival Smith. And without me, without my shattered crippled brain, you will never again be frightened by what you might have become. Or indeed, by what your future might make you..”(pg 52).