The central character in Griffin’s The Elocution of Benjamin Franklin, Robert O’Brien (billed simply as Man), is a 50-ish sometime-actor (and surreptitious transvestite) who finds himself giving private elocution classes out of his house in Double Bay.

Stutters and lisps are his material, phonetics and breathing exercises his tools. But while his pupils are only looking for a way to fit in to their everyday lives, O’Brien aspires to create entertainers.

Simon Burke in The Elocution of Benjamin Franklin. Photo © Brett Boardman

His stymied dreams are recharged by the arrival of one Benjamin Franklin, a lightning rod of a 12-year-old boy whose stutter disappears while he’s discussing his sex life. Benjamin is a born raconteur whose ability to communicate is curtailed when he’s not free to be himself. Their relationship evolves from the pedagogical to something approaching friendship, or at least interest in one another’s lives; a sinister development, to the world around them.

Much depends on the role of O’Brien, who is the only on-stage character. Simon Burke gives an outstanding performance, with great depth and range. He is raw and vulnerable,...