''The Marvellous Boy'' is a play by Australian playwright

Louis Nowra Mark Doyle, better known by his stage name Louis Nowra, (born 12 December 1950) is an Australian writer, playwright, screenwriter and librettist. He is best known as one of Australia's leading playwrights. His works have been performed by all o ...

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

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, particularly in Kings Cross. It was first performed at the SWB Stables on 13 October 2005 by the

Griffin Theatre Company Griffin Theatre Company is an Australian theatre specialising in new works, based in Sydney. Founded in 1979, it is the resident theatre company at the SBW Stables Theatre in Kings Cross. the artistic director is Declan Green. Artistic direct ...

with the following cast: *Luke:

Toby Schmitz Toby Schmitz (born 4 May 1977) is an Australian actor and playwright. He was born in Perth, Western Australia, attended Perth's Scotch College and briefly studied law at the University of Western Australia. He graduated from the acting course ...

*Malcolm Boyce, his father:

Danny Adcock Danny Adcock (born 29 June 1948) is an Australian actor, known for his work in television and theatre. His television acting roles include 7 different roles in Crawford Production series ''Matlock Police'' as the killer of Michael Pate's chara ...

*Ray: Anthony Phelan *Victor/Bain Cipolla:

Bruce Spence Bruce Spence (born 17 September 1945) is a New Zealand–Australian actor. Spence has amassed over 100 film and television credits and has also acted in theatre. Biography Spence won an AFI Award for Best Actor for his role in the 1971 comedy ...

*Esther:

Susie Lindeman Susie is a female name that can be a diminutive form of Susan, Susanne, Suzanne, Susannah, Susanna or Susana. Susie may refer to: Songs * "Susie Q" (song), a 1957 song by Dale Hawkins, covered by Creedence Clearwater Revival (1968) *" Wake ...

The production: *Director:

David Berthold David Berthold is one of Australia's most prominent theatre directors and cultural leaders. He has directed for most of Australia's major theatre companies, as well as in London and Berlin, and has led several key arts organisations. He was Artis ...

*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 Joan Nielsen (; 22 April 1937 – disappeared 4 July 1975) was an Australian homicide victim, who was a newspaper owner, publisher and journalist, a model, businesswoman, urban conservationist, and heiress. She was notable for her advo ...

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

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'' (, anglicised as ), French for ''novel with a key'', is a novel about real-life events that is overlaid with a façade of fiction. The fictitious names in the novel represent real people, and the "key" is the relationship ...

References

* Nowra, Louis, ''The Boyce trilogy'', Sydney: Currency Press, 2007.
The Blurb website

''State of the Arts'' review of the play
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marvellous Boy, The Plays by Louis Nowra 2005 plays Plays set in Australia Sydney in fiction