Alternative Media Group

THEATRE: POOR BOY

Author:

Amelia G

Posted:

Monday, 29 June 2009

Not a musical: a play with songs. After an acclaimed season in Melbourne earlier this year Poor Boy is opening in Sydney this week. I caught up with co-writer Matt Cameron during rehearsals and asked him how he came to work with legendary songwriter Tim Finn (of Split Enz and the Finn Brothers) on the script. “I wouldn’t have dared approach him myself,” said Matt. “A mutual friend knew that I was a die hard fan and that he was keen to get involved in theatre; and after I got over my initial anxiety we met and we were simpatico from the outset.”

The story they developed together is about two families and an unlikely bond they form after a supernatural occurrence. One family has lost their son in an accident; the other is being disowned by their son as his real family. It brings up notions of belonging, parenting, possession, loss and coming to terms with the fact that a child is its own person. It’s also drawing from an idea that behind every normal façade is something peculiar: “We all live near families we purport to know but we really have no idea about the mysteries that are behind every door, even in our own families.”

The production features songs by Tim Finn sung live by the cast, who are accompanied by a 5-piece band onstage. I asked Matt if it was ever a challenge to avoid being emotionally prescriptive with the music, especially when some of the songs have iconic status. “I think the music is placed organically,” he said, “there is an intrinsic place for it, and a clear integration. The songs are not being sung to tell the audience what to feel, they’re being sung because the characters singing them have run out of words to encapsulate what they are feeling.” Directed by Melbourne Theatre Company’s Artistic Director, Simon Phillips, Poor Boy will be showing at Sydney Theatre from July 6 to August 1. sydneytheatre.com.au

Photo by Brett Boardman

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