Magic realism of Trent Dalton’s Boy blooms on stage

Critics always believed Trent Dalton’s Boy Swallows Universe was made to be reinterpreted on the stage – and it works a treat.

Joe Klocek as Eli Bell and Michala Banas as Frankie in Boy Swallows Universe. Picture: David Kelly

When The New York Times reviewed Trent Dalton’s all-conquering debut novel, Boy Swallows Universe, critic Amelia Lester made an astute observation: “One can’t help quibbling that the story seems designed with an eye to its own presumed dramatic adaptation.”

Here we are, just three years after the book’s release, with a marquee play for the 2021 Brisbane Festival, and a movie also in the works. (The play would have premiered in 2020, had it not been for a certain pandemic).

Such is the affection for Dalton’s big-hearted, fantastical portrayal of 1980s Brisbane, and its obvious box-office appeal, that creatives have lined up to adapt it. Enter playwright Tim McGarry, director Sam Strong, and a team of designers, choreographers and composers. Collectively, their creation is not a play in the traditional sense. Apt, perhaps, given Boy Swallows Universe is an exercise in magic realism.

And what a yarn it is. Teenager Eli Bell (Joe Klocek) and his mute older brother, Gus (Tom Yaxley), have the world’s coolest babysitter in “Slim” Halliday (Anthony Phelan). Slim spent decades in Boggo Road Gaol for a murder he says he didn’t commit, and teaches the boys how to drive, and to appreciate great literature. It’s a good thing Slim is around, because the boys’ mother, Frankie (Michala Banas), and her boyfriend, Lyle (Anthony Gooley), are busy dealing heroin for the local kingpin. (An early scene, where Frankie is locked in her room for seven days to detox, is a harrowing window into Eli’s reality.)

All of this would make remarkable fiction, except that Slim is based on his namesake, and Eli is an avatar for Dalton and his own experiences growing up on Brisbane’s southside.

McGarry’s script rewards those who have read the book, but at key moments asks too much of those who haven’t.

When we meet Darren Dang (Hoa Xuande), the samurai sword-wielding terror of Darra State School, we have skipped past a pivotal scene in the book, where Darren and Eli’s uneasy friendship has been established, and a tense scene unfolds, foreshadowing later drama. The play omits a reference to this story, which means our introduction to Darren’s mother (Ngoc Phan) lacks proper context.

Of course, any adaptation needs to balance what is cut, what is kept and what is added. Given the source material is a 500-page novel swimming with paragraph-long sentences, and acres of narration by its keen-eyed protagonist, the creative team has a particularly tall order.

Watching the world premiere brought to mind other metanarratives: films Donnie Darko and Adaptation, and play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Such is the slippery nature of truth and time in Boy Swallows Universe, particularly when theatrical wizardry can transport us to the physical and figurative places a reader must imagine for themselves. Craig Wilkinson’s video design fills every corner of the stage, providing emotional heft in places, but adding questionable value in others.

While the selection, sequencing, and splicing of scenes, particularly in act two, requires greater finesse, the casting is superb. Phelan’s wise, wily Slim is the heart of the play, and it’s a shame he doesn’t have greater stage time. (Like several of the actors, he’s pulling double duty, expertly depicting multiple characters.) Xuande steals most of his scenes, while Phan makes her smallest role a memorable one. Klocek rarely leaves our sight, and wears Eli’s story as a second skin. It is a commanding performance that avoids earnestness.

Daring and imperfect, this highly anticipated adaptation celebrates the cinematic flair of the novel, and the salvation of storytelling.

Boy Swallows Universe: Adapted for the stage by Tim McGarry. Directed by Sam Strong. Queensland Theatre, Brisbane, September 3. Tickets: $68-$99. Bookings: queenslandtheatre.com.au. Duration: 2 hours and 45 minutes, including interval. Until October 3.