Jonathan Harvey’s award-winning play Beautiful Thing is coming to the Zhijiang Dream Factory. It’s an urban boy-meets-boy fairytale, accompanied by classic Mamas and Papas songs, and all proceeds will go to the Chi Heng Foundation, a Chinese AIDS charity (see listings for more details). Director Michael Darragh took time out from rehearsals to speak to SH.

SH: Why did you decide to put Beautiful Thing on here?
MD: I directed the Australian premiere 10 years ago, so I know how well audiences connect with the story. Jonathan has a faultless talent for authentic dialogue, and his characters are hewn with such detail, love, and care, that the audience can’t help but be carried away. It's important to do something for charity too. As people tighten their belts, we shouldn't neglect those who have nothing to spend in the first place.

SH: How did you manage to put it together on the cheap?
MD: We’ve had tremendous support from people in Shanghai. H&M are supplying the costumes, and Shanghai Studio and Angle Communications have been with us all the way. Plus we have lots of volunteers behind the scenes designing, organizing, and promoting.

SH: What makes the play different from other against-the-odds romances?
MD: How many love stories feature a musical-loving teenage boy, a potty-mouthed slapper who idolizes Mama Cass, a hot MILF, a scally Asian jock, and a posh wannabe wigga? More importantly, the story speaks to anyone who’s ever dreamt of a better life. The gay element shouldn’t be the defining aspect. Art cannot and should not be marginalized. The themes of the play – first loves, struggles to survive, self discovery, acceptance, family – are universal. They speak to anyone who counts themselves a member of the human race.

SH: The play touches on some sensitive issues. Did you have to adapt it in order for it to work here?
MD: If anything needed to be adapted it was the London-specific early ‘90s pop culture references. I'm opposed to making script changes because you're toying with someone’s work. Anyway, it’s not a sexually explicit play, and anyone coming for a cheap skin show is wasting their money. The only thing down and dirty about Beautiful Thing is the rough council housing estate where it’s set. Our characters are looking for love, not a quick blowie under the stairs.

SH: What can we look forward to next?
MD: In the spring we’ll produce Auntie Mame, a raucous comedy about a little boy who goes to live with his bon vivant socialite aunt in Manhattan at the time of the 1930s stock market crash. It’s utterly delicious with rapid-fire laughs, gut wrenching emotions and the most fabulous wardrobe you’ll ever see. It’ll be a charity performance of the highest standard.

SH: What’s it like working with volunteers rather than paid actors?
MD: Money doesn’t make people act better. Look at Hollywood. They throw a squillion dollars at Nicole Kidman and she destroys everything in her path like a Restilin steamroller. – James Maskell