We recently wrote a piece about a few Asian Australian theatre productions which are currently on or are upcoming. Feedback coming from all of you is that there is more! more! and more! What is most exciting about this, is that there is quite a number of them being shown, performed and planned all over the country. Here is a more complete list, but of course please fill in the blanks for us if we are missing any!
FYI we are also adding the ones we did in the first piece in addition to others we haven’t highlighted yet! – All theatre productions listed here are in no particular order.
LAURINDA (MELBOURNE THEATRE COMPANY)
Dates: 6th August 2022 – 10th September, 2022, Opening Night: 11th August, 2022
Premise: Alice Pung’s award-winning novel Laurinda comes to Melbourne Theatre Company’s stage, premiering on Thursday 11 August at Southbank Theatre. Adapted by writer and comedian Diana Nguyen (Phi and Me) and director Petra Kalive (The Lifespan of a Fact), this MTC NEXT STAGE commission is an incisive, witty comedy about a woman caught between cultures and class.
Cast: Fiona Choi , Gemma Chua-Tran, Georgina Naidu, Chi Nguyen, Ngoc Phan, Roy Phung and Jenny Zhou.
Tickets are on sale now – you can check out dates, details and purchase tickets from here: https://tickets.mtc.com.au/production/16780
TOP COAT (SYDNEY THEATRE COMPANY
Dates: Previews 25th – 29th June 2022, Full Season: 1st July – 6th August 2022
Premise: What happens when a Chinese-Australian manicurist switches bodies with a white, latte sipping, TV executive? A chaotic and outrageous comedy awaits! Dreaming of one day owning her own salon, the headstrong and determined Winnie (played by Kimie Tsukakoshi) spends her days buffing the manicures of her demanding, oblivious and mostly-white clientele. One such client is Kate (Amber McMahon), a glamorous high-flyer who is very assured of her progressive credentials.
Cast: Kimie Tsukakoshi, Arisa Yura, John Batchelor, Amber McMahon, Matty Mills.
Tickets are on sale now – you can check out dates, details and purchase tickets from here: https://www.sydneytheatre.com.au/whats-on/productions/2022/top-coat
THE TENANT OF WILDFELL HALL (SYDNEY THEATRE COMPANY)
Date: Previews 21st June 2022 – 24th June 2022, Full Season: 27th June 2022 – 16 July 2022
Premise: When Anne Brontë’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall was published in 1848, it became an instant sensation. The stirring and groundbreaking story of Helen Graham and her mysterious arrival in the town of Lindenhope – a young son in tow, no husband in sight and a painful secret in her past – so shocked and galvanised English society with its frank depiction of an abusive relationship that Brontë’s equally famous sister (Jane Eyre’s Charlotte Brontë) sought to prevent its republication.
Playwright Emme Hoy last shared her spectacular gift for shining new light on classic texts with the original monologues she penned for STC’s 2018 production of Saint Joan. Now, almost two centuries after The Tenant of Wildfell Hall’s scandalous publication, Hoy mines this pioneering classic to produce an entrancing, ingenious, and passionate period drama for the twenty-first Century.
Cast: Remy Hii, Danielle Catanzariti, Tara Morice, Tuuli Narkle, Ben O’Toole, Steve Rodgers, Eliza Scott, Anthony Taufa, Nikita Waldron.
Tickets are on sale now – you can check out dates, details and purchase tickets from here: https://www.sydneytheatre.com.au/whats-on/productions/2022/the-tenant-of-wildfell-hall
GOLDEN BLOOD (GRIFFIN THEATRE COMPANY)
Dates: 24th June 2022– 30th July 2022
Premise: Golden Blood feels like a big-screen thriller, even though it’s got a cast of two. Playing out on the neon streets of Singapore, it desperately claws back the extreme wealth it once knew, holding a rusty machete between its teeth. Originally slated for our 2021 Season, Merlynn Tong’s Golden Blood is back and hungrier than ever in 2022.
When her mother dies, a teenage girl is left alone within the four walls of the only thing she’s inherited—a decaying penthouse in the heart of Singapore. To make matters worse, she’s now in the care of her estranged brother, and he’s not exactly up to the gig. For one, he’s only a few years older than her. And two, he’s a gangster. Merlynn Tong is an unstoppable acting-writing polymath—directed at the centre of her own play by Griffin’s Associate Artistic Director Tessa Leong.
Cast: Merlynn Tong, Charles Wu
Tickets are on sale now – you can check out dates, details and purchase tickets from here: https://griffintheatre.com.au/whats-on/golden-blood-2/
Dates: 2nd September – 6th September 2022, Full Season 7th September 2022 – 18th September 2022
Premise: Lucy hasn’t been home in a while. But she’s quit her job, dumped her boyfriend, and turned up on her adoptive parents’ doorstep needing somewhere to crash. George and Shirley don’t know what to do with their daughter. She’s depressed, she’s a mess, and she’s stumbled across an old cardboard box that was once full of childhood memories but is now completely empty. Lucy and her parents haven’t always seen eye to eye on everything, but when a K-Pop star mysteriously wanders into their lives and starts asking destabilising questions about her Korean roots, new fault lines are exposed in the family unit that become impossible to hide.
Cast: Susanna Qian , Jeffrey Liu, Maude Davey an Syd Brisbane
Tickets are on sale now – you can check out dates, details and purchase tickets from here: https://www.malthousetheatre.com.au/tickets/malthouse-theatre/k-box/?fbclid=IwAR3F0jrKVealF3wqW5QE0GDYNaA14bOalE6RRmT0ht-lBNRAaYWvOxiX2DE
Dates: 22nd July 2022 – 27th August 2022
Premise: Ensemble Theatre is thrilled to present the world premiere of THE ONE, directed by esteemed director Darren Yap (C.A.A.P.’s Double Delicious, Merrigong Theatre Company’s Letters to Lindy, Griffin Theatre’s Diving for Pearls) and written by award-winning playwright Vanessa Bates (Barking Gecko Theatre’s A Ghost in My Suitcase, Sydney Theatre Company’s Darling Oscar), in a new eccentric story about being Eurasian and where you fit in society.
Mel has a lot on her plate, never mind caring for her mother’s prized poodle! In this sizzling hotpot of food, culture and identity, THE ONE colourfully unravels the complexities of what it means to be Eurasian in contemporary Australia.
Cast: Angie Diaz, Gabrielle Chan, Shan-Ree Tan, Damien Strouthos and Aileen Huynh
Tickets are on sale now – you can check out dates, details and purchase tickets from here: https://www.ensemble.com.au/shows/the-one/
A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO SELF DEFENCE (RIVERSIDE NATIONAL THEATRE OF PARRAMATTA + MERRIGONG THEATRE COMPANY)
Dates: 20th October, 2022 – 29th October, 2022 ( Riverside National Theatre of Parramatta) – 9th November, 2022 – 12th November, 2022 (Merrigong Theatre Company)
Premise: Message to my future self. A poignant perspective on “how to defeat the beast within”. This step-by-step guide mashes up martial arts, storytelling and digital animations, with a contemporary perspective of growing up Asian in an 80’s Australia. Playwright Hung-Yen Yang (Yen) examines the tension between good and evil that exists within us all via -deprecating comedy, some slapstick humour interspersed with practical tips such as why it’s usually not a good idea to turn your back on an enemy. An exploration of how everyday racism over the decades shapes decisions both good and bad.
Cast: Andy Trieu
Tickets are on sale now – you can check out dates, details and purchase tickets from here: https://riversideparramatta.com.au/NTofP/show/a-practical-guide-to-self-defence/?fbclid=IwAR10m_nyuHNAbu0bxHvGMVDDkmSrLILOwPXF_HKKCkwDxvxbqRfRlcz94Cc# and here: https://merrigong.com.au/shows/a-practical-guide-to-self-defence/?fbclid=IwAR1BU5HjYZ6qlYBtCcIkkOiVLFC5wF_T234SFhvB8UJvflvd1xwFZadVI7E
MOON RABBIT RISING (BELVOIR ST THEATRE’S 25A)
Dates: 29th June, 2022 – 10th July, 2022
Premise: In-between suns, moons, heaven and earth lives the story of 后羿 (Hou Yi) and 嫦娥 (Chang’e); two dreamers connected through time, and bound to our present. A story retold, and reimagined for millennia. Guided by those who have travelled before, Moon Rabbit Rising embarks on a theatrical adventure through times past, dreams shared and worlds of boundless imagination. As we await the rising moon, what stories dance in the shadows?
Cast: Mym Kwa, Jon Lam, Jasper Lee-Lindsay, Monica Sayers and Rachel Seeto
Tickets are on sale now – you can check out dates, details and purchase tickets from here: https://belvoir.com.au/productions/moon-rabbit-rising/
If there are others we are missing and should feature, please let us know! Links in each section above if you want to purchase tickets!
Images via the respective theatre websites
I am thrilled to see these all out there. And also to know that the CAAP. PWA, Girgenshon Foundation Lotus program has borne so much fruit. As a Lotus playwright myself, I can say that the bonds I made created a family of Asian creatives who love each other and, most importantly, stand in strength, solidarity and trust. Very proud of all of my Lotus folk.