Lost Boys will be the first time in 20 years Ben Pfeiffer stands on the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre stage

Pfeiffer grew up in Keiraville and made his stage debut at the age of six when the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre opened to the public. The year was 1988 and the young performer also had the pleasure of meeting His Royal Highness Princes Charles and then wife Diana at the centre’s official opening, handing the princess a bunch of flowers.

He went on to perform dozens of shows over the years though admitted growing up in the ‘90s in a “regional” centre was difficult and eventually forced him to greener pastures when he was 21.

This Friday will be the first time in two decades Pfeiffer will step onto the IPAC stage.

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Cast as malevolent teenager Cy in Lost Boys, he leads a gang of youths (male and female) to commit violent homophobic crimes in the late ‘80s.

The emotive work, written by award-winning playwright Lachlan Philpott, was inspired by real events including the death of WIN TV newsreader Ross Warren who disappeared in 1989. This week the NSW Homocide Squad announced they would reinvestigate the case.

“I think [the writer and director] felt something interesting could come from having someone in the queer community in that role,” he told the Mercury.

“In some ways the play is forcing me to make peace with many things, including Wollongong itself,” he said. “Coming back and kind of reconnecting to Wollongong, it feels like a really full circle journey.

“Something about [this role] felt like the right mix - creatively, professionally and personally.”

Pfeiffer believes the production will give audiences a deeper insight into a dark history of Australia’s LGBTQI community which has often been overlooked.

“It’s estimated there were 80 men who were murdered and up to 1000 or more who were brutalised or terrorised and tortured; so looking at that through the lens of someone who is a member of the queer community there’s a different kind of ownership of the story,” he said.

The confronting and emotional tale is dramatised through three generations of the fictional Murphy family, while the script poses the question of how perpetrators of violent crimes live with their unspeakable pasts.

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Philpott said the idea to bring this tale to the stage came about when several cold cases were reopened – including that of Ross Warren – around 2013.

“I think it’s really important to shine a light on the huge amount of discrimination and violence towards the gay and lesbian community,” Philpott said.

“I think this story is one example of a history that we’ve failed to talk about that we’ve failed to acknowledge … for Australia to evolve and for us to develop as a nation we have to come to terms with a lot of the atrocities of our history.”

The playwright was excited Merrigong Theatre Company chose to work with him and bring his vision to life, and said it was a “brave” move for the organisation.

Merrigong’s artistic development manager and director of Lost Boys Leland Kean hoped the work would have as much success as last year’s standout production, Letters To Lindy (exploring the public’s fascination with Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton).

“Anything we produce here we produce with an eye of having a life that exists beyond Merrigong – our [objective] is to produce work of local relevance but universal resonance,” he said.

“It’s an incredibly exciting story it’s a … thriller in how it sits and how it’s told on stage, it’s also very funny.”

One of Kean’s roles with the Illawarra company is to be on the lookout for new works to produce – whether that’s being handed a compelling script by a playwright, or finding a story that needs to be told.

“We’d love to increase the amount of what we’re commissioning, and since I’ve been here, the last four years we have increased significantly the amount we’re producing,” he said.

“That’s why I love working with Merrigong. This is one of the few companies in the country, and particularly within the regional context, that has a commitment to producing work of that scale – this isn’t a small show – and that’s not often something you often see, even on the main stages. It’s a very brave company Merrigong.”

Lost Boys, Illawarra Performing Art Centre, May 23 to June 2. Recommended for ages 16+ Ticket details at www.merrigong.com.au 

Free Talking Point, Saturday 2 June, 15 mins after the matinee ends.