The Elocution of Benjamin Franklin
Writer: steve j. spears
Director: Declan Greene
Belvoir Downstairs Theatre
21 February – 29 March, 2026
Simon Burke delivers an amazing tour de force performance in The Elocution of Benjamin Franklin now on at Belvoir Street Theatre. This one-hander Griffin Theatre production has been reprised after fifty years when it was first performed by Gordon Chater under the direction of Richard Wherrett. The play deals with sexual relationships and modes of identity that at the time were illegal. Transgressing individuals could also be committed into mental institutions.
This ground-breaking play went on to tour internationally to great acclaim. A forerunner in change, it is still important that these concerns are aired again in this fast-regressing world. Simon brilliantly takes his audience on a journey from hilarious and fluffy pantomime to deeply felt tragedy. The toll this takes becomes evident as the laughter and sight gags diminish and dramatic sound and light effects carry the protagonist into a moving finale leaving its audience stunned into silence.
The story is a simple tale of an elocution teacher, Robert O’Brien living in a quaint eastern suburbs bedsit where he tutors his well to do clients. He cures them of stuttering or prepares them for the stage and screen. At the start we see him mincing around hilariously with a large portrait of Mick Jagger. Although his vulnerability is expressed by a flash of nudity and portly middle-aged flesh, he quickly transforms into an articulate, well-dressed professional attired in the conservative browns of his era. He begins tutoring a twelve-year-old boy with the strangely out of place name, Benjamin Franklin.
Simon’s masterful vocal acrobatics allows us to see, feel and hear the many characters that flesh out this fast-moving play. He speaks their parts with uncanny fluidity as the story unfolds in an ever-rising dramatic arc. O’Brien’s mentoring of this young stutterer show him to be honourable and wise. When his transvestite persona is revealed, he is unjustly accused of paedophilia. His world is shattered. Accused of crimes of which he is completely innocent, he must sacrifice himself to protect his innocent ward.
The set in its simple and clever design features a large opaque and backlit window representing the outside world. The lighting and sound elegantly pivot around this symbolic motif to express the fear and danger threatening to invade O’Brien’s secret world. He feels constant pressure from these outside forces.
A classic of Australian theatre the rebirth of this performance is timely in addressing current issues of homophobia, sexual marginalisation and mediations of truth. As it did in 1976, sexism and phobia can lead to tragic outcomes and blatant distortions of what is real, true and deeply human.
