The Marvellous Boy is a play by Australian playwright Louis Nowra

Louis Nowra

Louis Nowra is an Australian writer, playwright, screenwriter and librettist.He is best known as one of Australia's leading playwrights...

, the second part of the Boyce trilogy. It is set in Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, particularly in Kings Cross

Kings Cross, New South Wales

Kings Cross is an inner-city locality of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately 2 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Sydney...

.

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

Griffin Theatre Company

Griffin Theatre Company is an Australian theatre specialising in new writing. It is the resident theatre company at the SBW Stables Theatre in Kings Cross, Sydney, Australia...

 with the following cast:

• Luke: Toby Schmitz
• Malcolm Boyce, his father: Danny Adcock
  Danny Adcock
  Danny Adcock is an Australian actor, best known for his work in television and theatre.His television acting roles include Matlock Police as the killer of Michael Pate's character, Division 4, Homicide, Patrol Boat, Sons and Daughters as Joe Parker, Prisoner as male warder Geoff Carlson, A Country...
  
  
• Ray: Anthony Phelan
• Victor/Bain Cipolla: Bruce Spence
  Bruce Spence
  Bruce Spence, born September 17, 1945 is an actor, having spent most of his career performing in Australia. Bruce attended Henderson High School in West Auckland....
  
  
• Esther: Susie Lindeman

The production:

• Director: David Berthold
  David Berthold
  David Berthold is a leading Australian theatre director. He has directed for most of Australia's major theatre companies, as well as internationally. Since November 2008, he has been Artistic Director and Chief Executive Officer of La Boite Theatre Company...
  
  
• Designer Nicholas Dare
• Lighting designer: Matt Marshall

Sources

Some of the characters have similarities to well-known people in Sydney, such as the Moran family. Esther's plight resembles that of Juanita Nielsen

Juanita Nielsen

Juanita Joan Nielsen was an Australian publisher and heiress.She was born Juanita Joan Smith in New Lambton, NSW to parents: Neil Donovan Smith and Vilma Grace Smith nee Meares . Her parents separated soon after her birth and she was raised by her mother at Killara, Sydney...

 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

David Berthold

David Berthold is a leading Australian theatre director. He has directed for most of Australia's major theatre companies, as well as internationally. Since November 2008, he has been Artistic Director and Chief Executive Officer of La Boite Theatre Company...

 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

Roman à clef

Roman à clef or roman à clé , French for "novel with a key", is a phrase used to describe a novel about real life, overlaid with a façade of fiction. The fictitious names in the novel represent real people, and the "key" is the relationship between the nonfiction and the fiction...

.

External links

• Short video interview with Louis Nowra talking about his plays and writing methods including The Boyce Trilogy
• Teacher's Notes on Louis Nowra and The Boyce Trilogy