Lost Boys

Premiered at Illawarra Performing Arts Centre in May 2018 [director Leland Kean]; produced by Merrigong Theatre Company.

‘I know my boys are in a kind of gang. It’s not like America. They aren’t car jacking people, they just surf. They surf and they hang about the beach and watch the waves and maybe they smoke and carry on a bit but it’s harmless enough. What are they meant to do here?’

Cy and Robert Murphy are teenagers living a life of sun and saltwater, but as the sun sets, a malevolent culture of homophobia and violence surfaces, with consequences that ripple across generations. Inspired by real events and told through the eyes of three generations of the Murphy family, Lost Boys rips into a dark part of our male-dominated culture, asking how perpetrators of violent crimes live with their unspeakable pasts. Commemorating lives lost, this deeply affecting and potent new work forces us to examine secrets held for decades, and prejudices still held today.

Premiered at Illawarra Performing Arts Centre in May 2018 [director Leland Kean]; produced by Merrigong Theatre Company.

★ ★ ★ ★ ‘Philpott’s play… [is] an incisive examination of the xenophobia and violence lying just under the surface of Australia’s apparently fair and equal society.’ Ben Neutze, Timeout Sydney

‘Lost Boys is an unflinching play asking us to consider the ongoing effects of past crimes. It’s also a powerful demonstration of the ways in which language is used to dehumanise. The notion that words can’t hurt is comprehensively demolished.’ Jason Blake, Audrey Journal.

‘The sins of the past resurface in this new Australian play exploring the epidemic of homophobic violence which swept Sydney in the 1980s, and its aftermath… Lost Boys is an ambitious and important work which shines a dramatic light on a shamefully recent aspect of our shared history. Philpott, and Merrigong Theatre Company, are to be congratulated for this production.’ Richard Watts, ArtsHub