Good news for fans of Boys Swallows Universe, because the beloved story is making a mighty comeback!
While we’ve already been blessed with the bestselling book by Trent Dalton and the award-winning Netflix series, we can now enjoy it all on the stage.
This week, Global Creatures announced that it has secured the rights to the story and will bring it to life as a live stage theatrical adaptation.
“Trent Dalton is one of the most dynamic voices in Australian literature and his thrilling debut novel Boy Swallows Universe is one of my favourite books ever,” Global Creature’s producer Carmen Pavlovic said.
“I’m honoured to collaborate with Trent to reimagine his remarkable and deeply personal story for the stage. The show promises to be a theatrical event that brings to life the powerful and uplifting worlds of brothers Eli and Gus.”
For the author, this new chapter is a dream come true.
“I am so frequently awed by what Carmen Pavlovic and Global Creatures are able to create for theatrical stages across the world,” Trent said.
The production company has already brought six iconic productions to life, which have toured across four continents.
These include Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Muriel’s Wedding, How to Train Your Dragon, Strictly Ballroom The Musical, Walking With Dinosaurs The Arena Spectacular, and King Kong.
“They always seem to me to be chasing the kind of electrifying soul wallop that I tried to bring to Boy Swallows Universe, back when that more-than-semi-autobiographical story first broke loose from the rusty prison bars of my heart and turned itself into a book.
“It’s nothing less than a theatrical dream come true for me to embark on this journey with a global team as profoundly protective of where that story comes from as it is electrified by its creatively boundless and geographically borderless theatrical potential.”
While he is excited about this new chapter, he is not writing the script. He also did not write the TV series, but was instead an executive producer.
“I go to this story reluctantly, it’s not easy for me to go back there,” he told the Australian Financial Review about the emotional toll it took to bring the book to life.
To date, a release date for the production has not been announced. The Queensland Theatre initially adapted it to the stage in 2021.
Is Boy Swallows Universe a true story?
The gripping story is very much inspired by Trent’s upbringing.
Like the protagonist Eli, as a child, Trent had to come to terms with the idea that those he loved most were criminals.
As a child, this was his criminal stepfather, and a family friend called Arthur ‘Slim’ Halliday.
Halliday was convicted in 1952 of murdering a taxi driver on the Gold Coast by beating him with a pistol. He was nicknamed the ‘Houdini of Boggo Road’ because of his escapes from the gaol of the same name.
But to the author and Walkley winner, he was just the funniest and kindest person who babysat him and his siblings.
In the novel and series, Trent’s brothers Jesse, Joel, and Ben are merged together into Eli’s brother, August, who writes messages in the air.
The story is set in 1980s Brisbane, with Eli also growing up with his heroin-dealing stepfather, his drug-addicted mother, and a notorious criminal for a father figure.
The book then went on to sell more than a million copies and be published in 34 territories.
The series also won five Logie awards and 12 AACTA awards.
