Son of Byblos: Cultural & Performance Study Guide

Dive deep into the world of James Elazzi’s Son of Byblos, a powerful and timely play exploring love, family, identity, and cultural expectation in the Lebanese-Australian diaspora. This play examines complex themes including gender, sexuality, tradition, migration, and the moral compromises people make to navigate both personal desire and societal pressure. Through richly drawn characters like Claire and Adam, the story reveals the tension between private longing and public duty, challenging audiences to confront questions of loyalty, honesty, and cultural belonging.

This comprehensive study guide is designed to complement the full play, providing readers and performers with essential tools to understand its depth and nuance. It includes cultural context, character analysis, thematic exploration, acting exercises, and classroom discussion questions, making it an invaluable resource for actors seeking to inhabit the characters authentically, and for Year 11–12 English and Drama students studying the play for school.

Whether you’re preparing for performance, exploring diasporic identity, or analyzing the moral and cultural tensions within the text, this study guide offers a structured, insightful, and practical approach to one of Australia’s most thought-provoking contemporary plays.