Merrimack Rep looks up to ‘Heroes’

Of course, promises Merrimack Repertory Theatre, which is presenting the New England premiere of “Heroes’’ in a production originated by Keen Company.

“Keen Company is dedicated to sincerity, which we sort of take as a code word for generosity of spirit and compassion, for plays that evince the best of human nature,’’ says Carl Forsman, the New York troupe’s artistic director and the director of “Heroes,’’ speaking by phone. “It’s such a loving, gentle look at these three very funny old guys, these three World War I veterans. It’s so generous toward them and their humanity and their plight, so it was a really natural fit for us.’’

The play, now in previews at the Lowell theater, is set on the terrace of a French old soldiers’ home in 1959. Henri, Gustave, and Philippe are a quarrelsome bunch, their foibles and fears bumping up against one another. One blacks out regularly thanks to a head wound from the war, while another is afraid to leave the terrace. But eventually they gather their courage for one final adventure.

“Heroes’’ was written in 2002 by French playwright Gerald Sibleyras, and Tom Stoppard adapted it for the British stage. It won top comedy awards on both sides of the English Channel. Forsman read a review of a Los Angeles production starring Richard Benjamin and George Segal and got a copy of the play. He happened to know Sibleyras’s London agent and sent her an e-mail. A few days later, the small, 10-year-old Keen Company had the rights to do the New York premiere.

That off-Broadway staging early this year starred Tony winner Ron Holgate as Gustave and Jonathan Hogan as Philippe, with Tony winner John Cullum as Henri. The New York Times review went easy on the actors but dismissed the play, calling the characters two-dimensional and the comedy “mostly of the one-liner variety.’’ Forsman disagrees, obviously, but says he wasn’t surprised.

“Whenever you do something in New York that’s generous-spirited you get that kind of comment, because there’s a pervasive mentality that to be sophisticated you have to be cynical about humanity,’’ he says. “To be deep or meaningful you have to be talking about raping children and killing people and sadomasochism and serial killers. That’s serious. Anything that talks about friendship or compassion is simple-minded.

“That kind of criticism gets directed at almost all the work I do in the city. I don’t take that kind of criticism very seriously, because it’s clearly a literate play. Tom Stoppard isn’t working on a sitcom, right? It’s just a ludicrous accusation.’’

Merrimack artistic director Charles Towers, a Forsman mentor, saw the New York production and wanted to bring it north. (Keen’s “The Breadwinner’’ also came to Merrimack Rep a few years ago.)

“[Forsman is] somewhat of a rarity in theater. He’s a really good person and not obsessed with career, and he’s really committed to what he’s doing,’’ Towers says. “He is not afraid to celebrate the human spirit as opposed to only find the dark side. . . . My own personal taste might yield more to the dark side. Maybe that’s why I like Carl: He provides a balance for me and a balance for my audience as well.’’

Bringing “Heroes’’ to Merrimack Rep has numerous benefits, Forsman says. “It’s a great chance to work on the play again, and for Hogan and Holgate it’s just a treat to get to do the show again,’’ he says. “And Charles saves a couple of bucks because we can rehearse the play a little quicker and we own some of the clothes.’’

In Lowell, Ken Tigar takes over the role of Henri.

“The entire dynamic is different than it was in New York,’’ Forsman continues. “He’s a very different actor than John Cullum. . . . I’ve reconfigured whole chunks of the play around what Ken is doing. He’s a smaller physical presence than Cullum, and he’s a higher-pitched actor vocally. He’s a more energetic and slightly more spry actor. So there’s a very different energy than there was in New York, and so we’ve all recalibrated it.’’

Holgate says things would be different anyway: “When you sit on a play for a while and several months have gone by, it makes you rethink certain moments and things you didn’t think went so well in the first production that you want to correct in this one.’’

And what’s it like sliding into the cast at this point? “It’s scary!’’ Tigar jokes. “We’ve only got a couple of weeks to put the play together, and they’ve all done it before. So they’re way ahead of me when I arrived. It puts your feet to the fire.’’

For a few minutes, the three actors discuss their characters’ infirmities - both the problems that come with aging and their actual war wounds. Eventually the questions return to the critics’ reaction. “It’s hard to predict. I think most of the critics also have shrapnel in their skulls,’’ Hogan says and laughs.

“Heroes’’ runs through Dec. 13. Tickets: 978-654-4678, www.merrimackrep.org.