Boy Swallows Universe is all heart on stage

The anticipation for the stage adaptation of Trent Dalton’s Boy Swallows Universe has been akin to the Second Coming, but the premiere of the show was brought to a shuddering halt. Read Phil Brown’s review.

How do you review a play based on the most loved book of the past decade? It’s like being asked to review the Bible or motherhood.

I was a bit nervous actually because if the stage version of Trent Dalton’s Boy Swallows Universe was no good and I said so hordes would descend on the building with pitchforks and flaming torches.

But settle down everyone, relax, because this Queensland Theatre production is terrific. I’m not saying it doesn’t creak in places on account of its sheer size and length (it was three hours long with an interval) and it’s not without its minor flaws. But all is forgiven because of the heart and soul of this theatrical epic.

Even when something went wrong it was a triumph. I’m talking about the minor incident on opening night last night in the Playhouse at QPAC. This was also opening night for Brisbane Festival and this production is the jewel in the crown of the festival but it all went pear-shaped for a moment when Hoa Xuande unsheathed his katana (Samurai sword) and managed to smash a little light bulb which shattered onto the stage.

Ngoc Phan turns Trent Dalton’s Boy Swallows Universe into a cabaret at one stage

The curtain fell immediately and a disembodied voice rang out from the ether (was it God?) asking us to stay seated. WTF? I wasn’t quite sure what had happened but my wife, far more observant than I, had spotted it.

A few minutes later the curtain rose again and the star of the show, young Brisbane actor Joe Klocek, who plays Trent Dalton’s protagonist Eli Bell, said … “Where were we?” And then they resumed. Talk about style. Resilience in the face of adversity and being able to recover from disaster is a theme of the play that was exemplified in that fleeting moment.

The opening night crowd felt like a huge family reunion (who wasn’t there?) and the anticipation was enormous. If you love the book you are going to love the play. Just to be clear it wasn’t written by wonder boy Trent Dalton, a former staffer of The Courier-Mail, who was in the auditorium and delivered a screen welcome to everyone. It was adapted for the stage by Tim McGarry who has masterfully culled the best scenes for the theatre and with Sam Strong directing it is in good hands. Strong is a master storyteller and the trio of Dalton (who was close to the production), McGarry and Strong is a winning trio indeed. Talk about your three amigos.

Trent Dalton’s Boy Swallows Universe is a boy’s own adventure like no other

Set design by Renee Mulder is amazing and lighting by Ben Hughes, sound design by Steven Francis and video work by Craig Wilkinson make it a compelling feast for the senses and one that is quite cinematic at times.

The Brisbane City Hall clock tower scenes are special and I love Dalton’s themes around the meaning of time as espoused in the philosophy of Slim Halliday, the Houdini of Boggo Road. There’s quite a bit about the infamous prison in the book and in the play of course.

Joe Klocek and Michala Banas in a scene from Trent Dalton’s Boy Swallow’s Universe

And quite a bit about The Courier-Mail too we are proud to say. After all Eli’s main aspiration is to work for this newspaper and ultimately he manages to get a job there in the story. But you all know that, right?

The cast is excellent and Joe Klocek is destined to be a star of the future. The scenes between him and Tom Yaxley, who plays Eli’s brother August Bell are warm and funny.

Michala Banas is suitably histrionic at times as Eli’s mum Frankie and Ashlee Lollback is great as Caitlyn Spies, Eli’s love interest.

I loved Anthony Gooley as Lyle Orlik but even more as Brian Robertson, editor of The Courier-Mail, a man who shouts a lot and loves to cuss. There’s a lot of cussing in the play – C-bombs and F-bombs – but this is the way people speak in the demimonde of 1980s Brisbane.

Andrew Buchanan was terrific as the violent Teddy Kallas and great to see Anthony Phelan back in Queensland in two major roles as Slim Halliday and Tytus Broz the crime boss and hell, everyone’s good and it’s a big cast. Ngoc Phan is a treat as Vietnamese restaurateur and drug dealer Bich Dang and her singing of Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft (a Carpenters song) is cracking good fun and hell, I knew all the words! There’s plenty of great 1980s songs in this show and a snippet of The Saints singing (I’m) Stranded was just so cool.

I want to mention too how terrific and funny I thought Hoa Xuande was as Darren Dang. Comic genius there.

You all know the book I’m sure and everything’s there – the drug addiction, alcoholism, crime, domestic violence. How can all that be uplifting? There are the dreams and optimism too though and that’s the magic of Trent Dalton I guess.

It’s a treat to see key scenes played out in real time on stage in three dimensions. Does the play match your imagination and how you thought the novel would look on stage? I bet it does and yes there is a red telephone and talk of a dead blue wren.

The main thing is that it retains the heart and soul of the novel.

Trent Dalton reckons his story is 60 per cent true but on stage it feels 100 per cent true – Photo Steve Pohlner

It’s also wonderfully local. Nundah, Bracken Ridge, Darra, the Story Bridge, how often do you hear these places mentioned in the theatre?

It’s dark too, as the book is dark in places, but Eli Bell is always walking away from the darkness towards the light. It’s full of homespun philosophy and of course you wonder how much of the story actually happened to Trent Dalton.

When I interviewed him recently he said he reckoned it was sixty per cent true. Which means he went through some stuff in his younger life. But with the alchemy of literature he turned that into gold and Sam Strong and the team have done the same with this play. It’s gold Australia, gold.

Trent Dalton’s Boy Swallows Universe is on in the Playhouse, QPAC, until October 3; qpac.com.au