The Marvellous Boy

The top of the Sydney Tower, where the play's first scene is set

The main street of Kings Cross, where most of the play is set

The Marvellous Boy is a play by Australian playwright Louis Nowra, the second part of the Boyce trilogy. It is set in Sydney, particularly in Kings Cross.

It was first performed at the SWB Stables on 13 October 2005 by the Griffin Theatre Company with the following cast:

• Luke: Toby Schmitz
• Malcolm Boyce, his father: Danny Adcock
• Ray: Anthony Phelan
• Victor/Bain Cipolla: Bruce Spence
• Esther: Susie Lindeman

The production:

• Director: David Berthold
• Designer Nicholas Dare
• Lighting designer: Matt Marshall

Sources

Some of the characters have similarities to well-know people in Sydney, such the Moran family. Esther's plight resembles that of Juanita Nielsen in the 1970s. Ray has suggestions of businessman Abe Saffron and his partner Jim Anderson, who did die of bird flu. In his Introduction to the text, director David Berthold also compares Malcolm to property developer Frank Theeman (p. x) But such similarities are so numerous and diverse that the play is clearly no roman à clef.

References

Nowra, Louis, The Boyce trilogy, Sydney: Currency Press, 2007. ISBN: 9780868197982

The Blurb website

State of the Arts review of the play