Billionaire Boy

Written by Maryam Master and based on the best-selling novel by David Walliams this play, which has a talented cast of five, explores important social issues and should be great entertainment for all young families.

The play centres on a young boy named Joe whose father is a billionaire and how he learns to treat friends, bullies and how money ultimately doesn’t bring happiness.

“Because it’s for kids a musical may sometimes be too hard for them to follow, so this ‘play with songs’ allows us to have more simplicity in the story and still have that upbeat nature of musical theatre,” explained Nicholas Starte, who plays the titular role.

There are many important messages resonated in this play for children and parents alike.

“How we’ve been brought up influences how we treat people. The biggest problem for Joe is that his dad throws money at everything so that’s all he knows – he throws money at problems and when that doesn’t work, he doesn’t have any other options. How parents interact with the world is how they’re going to be teaching their kids how to interact with the world, as kids will invariably start to mimic.”

Starte is adamant that even the youngest of children should resonate to the themes in this play.

“The nice thing is there’s so much fun and silliness in the show, but it all leads to these nice deep lessons. I think from a young age as soon as you start dealing with people outside your family group and even within your family group, everybody learns these lessons and it’s useful for kids at that age to start learning things like empathy and compassion.” (MMo)

Mar 7–9. Riverside Theatre, Cnr Market & Church St, Parramatta. $22-$29+b.f. Tickets & Info: www.riversideparramatta.com.au

Mar 12-14. The Concourse, 409 Victoria Ave, Chatswood. $44+b.f. Tickets & Info: www.theconcourse.com.au

Mar 15-17. The Seymour Centre, City Rd & Cleveland Street, Chippendale. $39+b.f. Tickets & Info: www.seymourcentre.com