The Boys

The Boys, an award-winning drama by Australian playwright Gordon Graham, is the story of three brothers in a run-down Australian suburb whose brutal attitudes about women may have led them to commit a violent crime. The play takes a hard-hitting look at male violence towards women and the many factors that fuel it.

When Brett Sprague is released from prison, younger brothers Glenn and Stevie throw him a homecoming party. As the beer flows, tensions begin to arise between the boys and their women: hot-headed Brett accuses his girlfriend of infidelity while he was locked up, the passive Glenn becomes angered by his controlling girlfriend’s haughty attitude toward his family, and Stevie wants to dump his pregnant girlfriend despite his mother’s demands to the contrary. The brothers’ anger soon turns into rage against women in general and they leave the party together. The next day a woman is found brutally raped and murdered and the brothers are taken into custody. But are the boys capable of committing such a violent act?

The Boys premiered in 1991 at the Stables Theatre in Sydney, Australia, where it won the prestigious Australian Writers Guild Award. The Sydney Morning Herald wrote “Gordon Graham has succeeded in creating a play characterized by qualities of suspense and humor, compassion and acute observation. Dramatically, it is mesmeric. It’s a work that has to be seen.” In 1998, a feature film version of The Boys was released starring Toni Colette and David Wenham.