Bundoora’s own Dom Hennequin is one of the stars of a global play about to make its Australian debut.
Based on the novel The Man Who Laughs by Victor Hugo (Les Miserables), The Grinning Man is a wildly different fairytale set in a world of pitch-black humour, magic, mayhem and alluring romance.
Dom plays Ursus, the travelling puppet purveyor, and he said the show is an emotional rollercoaster that cannot be missed.
“It is the funniest of funny, but also the saddest of sad,” he said.
“It’s just hilarious, truly, you’ll laugh and cry, and potentially nothing in between.”
He said it was a scary reality that the show was less than two weeks away from opening, but he and the rest of the team were eager to show Melbourne their hard work in action.
“It’s a very intense few weeks to get a whole new show up and running,” he said.
“It’s quite an intense process, we have to go through the discovery of our characters, learning every scene and song and prop in a short amount of time, so it has been a lot, but, it’s what we do!”
Dom has been involved in a Harry Potter production and a Stranger Things musical spinoff, so to work on an original show is something that excites him.
He and the rest of the team are rehearsing every day, and working hard ahead of The Grinning Man’s first show at Alex Theatre in St Kilda on Thursday, April 25, with shows nearly every night until the curtains close for the final time on Sunday, May 19.
Gerald Lynch
