Written by Sam Grabiner

Directed by Keegan Bragg
fortyfivedownstairs - 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
12 - 30 March 2025 (no Mondays) - 7:30pm (5:00pm Sundays)

Cast: Karl Richmond, Ben Walter, Justin Hosking, Damon Baudin, Akeel Purmanund

Director: Keegan Bragg
Producer: Ben Andrews
Sound Designer: Ethan Hunter
Lighting Designer: Georgie Wolfe
Co-Set Designers: Louisa Fitzgerald, Ben Andrews
Costume Designer: Louisa Fitzgerald
Stage Manager: Ella Campbell
Graphic Design + Photography: Ben Andrews
Marketing: Bridie Pamment

The Maybe Pile are thrilled to unveil Sam Grabiner’s award winning play Boys on the Verge of Tears this March under the keen direction of 2023 MinterEllison Future Director Keegan Bragg.

Premiering at the Soho Theatre in London in 2023, Boys on the Verge of Tears is a bold, searing exploration of masculinity and youth, capturing the raw, unfiltered lives of boys and men grappling with identity, vulnerability, and the pressure to conform, set entirely within the intimate confines of a men’s public bathroom. 

A powerhouse cast of 5, Ben Walter (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), Karl Richmond (Touching the Void, The Inheritance), Justin Hocking (Uncle Vanya), Damon Baudin (Romeo & Julie) and newcomer Akeel Purmanund will inhabit 40 characters as this deeply human play unfolds in a unique series of encounters. Moments of recklessness, bravado, and unexpected tenderness, will immerse audiences in the unfiltered experience of young men navigating the tumultuous journey into adulthood.

 With sharp humour and a profound sensitivity Grabiner’s play dismantles masculine façades of toughness and dissects the fears, dreams, and insecurities buried beneath.