Facing the MUSIC

Tim Minchin is a struggling pianist driving across Australia in a quirky road-trip drama

- Tim Minchin

He’s best known as a keyboard playing comic and creator of West End musical Matilda. Now Tim Minchin is showing off his acting chops in a new eight-part comedy drama about a pair of misfits on an Australian road trip.

The 44-year-old plays Lucky Flynn, a struggling musician who, when he finds out that his mother is close to death in Perth, decides to drive there with his much-loved upright piano.

But Lucky has barely started towing his battered piano by car when he is involved in an accident with feisty teen Meg (Milly Alcock).

The two become reluctant travelling companions on the 4,000km trip from Sydney to Perth, revealing their vulnerabilities en route. ‘From the moment I heard about Upright, I knew it was the show I’d been waiting to make,’ says Minchin. ‘I like stories that make me laugh and think and cry, I adore the landscapes of outback Australia – and I love music and homecomings, and characters full of flaws.’