The Marvellous Boy

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The Marvellous Boy
Written by Louis Nowra
Date premiered13 October 2005
Place premiered Griffin Theatre, Sydney
Original languageEnglish
GenreMelodrama
The top of the Sydney Tower, where the play's first scene is set SydneyAMPTower gobeirne.jpg
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 East0044.jpg
The main street of Kings Cross, where most of the play is set

The Marvellous Boy is a play by Australian playwright Louis Nowra, [1] the second part of the Boyce trilogy. [2] It is set in Sydney, particularly in Kings Cross.

Contents

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

The production:

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 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.

Critical reception

Stephen Dunne, writing for The Sydney Morning Herald had difficulties with th eplay: "Perhaps it's a middle section of the trilogy problem, but this play feels very thin. There are some cliched ideas, the characters don't really go anywhere, and the conclusion (after the needless and momentum-sapping interval) will surprise few." [3]

References

  1. ↑ "Austlit — The Marvellous Boy by Louis Nowra". Austlit. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
  2. ↑ "The Boyce Trilogy by Louis Nowra". Austlit. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
  3. ↑ ""The Marvellous Boy"". The Sydney Morning Herald, 15 October 2005. Retrieved 1 August 2025.

Notes

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