AustLit

'‘Brotherhood is easy when things run smoothly. But when someone causes hurt, this is where it’s tested.’

'To celebrate Victory in the Pacific, five indentured Chinese workers are staging a theatre show at Brisbane’s Bulimba Dockyards.

'The men aim to weave an epic tale of brotherhood and resilience, charting their journey from poverty and war in rural China, through hard work on the tiny phosphate-rich island of Nauru, to a hasty evacuation from the Japanese to Australia, and all the challenges that they overcame on the way. However, differing perspectives of critical events in their story threaten to derail this display of unity to become the one thing that could tear them apart.

'Blending vaudeville, musical theatre, circus, Cantonese Opera and martial arts, Slow Boat is inspired by the unexpected arrival in Australia of playwright Anna Yen’s father, along with 580 other Chinese men, during WWII.'

Source: Playlab Theatre.

''I’m not abandoning my principles; I’m coming here to apply them.'

'1971. The height of the Cold War. The Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia is opening up to Western tourism after breaking away from the Soviet Bloc. Branislav and Valentina Radovic have been compelled to design a hotel complex for the government after forging a reputation for designing ultra-modern concrete structures, triggering their lofty utopian political and architectural ideals.

'Present-day. New York City. A talented Australian environmental architect, Natalia Silverman, has been asked to join the team designing New York’s ‘Big U’ – the sea wall mitigation project that will cradle Manhattan’s financial district from rising sea levels. But building a sea wall around the world’s iconic home of big business, is forcing her to ask herself; is she really saving New York, or just working for the bad guys?

'Brutal Utopias examines the intersection between lofty ideals and realpolitik, and the search for perfection in a world that is tilting imminently toward chaos.'

Source: Playlab Theatre.

'‘Are you seriously going to sass me in my own apartment?’

'Moxie, passion, drive; whatever you want to call it, Leila’s got it and it compelled her hundreds of kilometres from the remote country town she grew up in to the big city. It’s been a hard six years, but she’s so close to the success she craves, so close to her dreams of representing her community, so close to being an inspiration to the other girls back home just like her.

'However, one girl just like her, her niece Maddie, has just shown up on her doorstep in the middle of the night, disillusioned and far away from the same community that Leila left behind, and she’s about to make her understand just how far she’s strayed from home.

'Face to Face is an intimate drama about two women navigating the complex effects of disconnecting from Country, and criticism from your community, your family, and above all, yourself.'

Source: Playlab Theatre.

'Facing imminent environmental, economic and social collapse, through rising sea levels, scarcity of food and fresh water, and open conflict between Government and Rebel forces, a remote island country in the Asia Pacific region is at a tipping point.

'When a bomb explodes killing civilians and UN peacekeepers the pressure mounts for definitive action to solve this ecological and humanitarian crisis, but the competing visions of the Nation’s future have no room for compromise. Among the widespread chaos, five individual stories of integrity, idealism, justice, compassion and hope emerge.

'From five playwrights, Rising is a response to the Australian Government’s climate change in-action, jobs and growth mantra, creeping law and order reform and neo-colonial attitude. This ambitious new work seeks to find equality and balance through the perspectives of five fabulous emerging female artists.'

Source: Playlab.

'Lovers on the highway, chased down by their past.

'Cole and Sky, a young couple, are driving in a classic car from the coast into the guts of the country. Cole’s father is on his deathbed and there are rumours Cole is set to inherit the earth after a life of aimlessness. They set out with unbridled enthusiasm for the road ahead; swept up in romantic dreaming and poetic ruminations amid the boundless plains. They knit new narratives for themselves; give themselves new names and identities in sync with their seemingly unanimous versions of utopia. Their newfound freedom is underscored by a long-forgotten mix tape buried deep in the glovebox, but out of the static following the final song, a pubescent voice cracks — a younger, angrier, more violent Cole and his teenage manifesto recorded to tape.

'Equal parts Mad Max: Fury Road, Thelma and Louise, and the classic films of the Ozploitation era, Horizon keeps who we are in the rear view mirror, whilst asking what it is we can see in the warping heat-distorted bitumen ahead. With a smack of Wolf Creek, a slap of Wake in Fright, and a firm grip on the true stories of those lost to the isolation of the outback, Horizon is a high-octane journey that’s over the limit, over heating and tearing right into the heart of Australia.' (Production summary)

'Mordecai, a novelist dealing with a bad review, returns to her family’s Brisbane home for the first time in decades following the death of her father. The home conjures echoes from her distant past: the muggy summers, the smell of rotting mangoes, and the perpetual arguments between her Romani mother and father.

'When she discovers her old journal – an innocent tapestry of ideas, drawings, and imaginings – Mordecai is drawn back to 1961 and a long-abandoned investigation into her parent’s unhappiness. Pushed along by her childhood friend Splinter, Mordecai sets out to uncover the long dormant secrets that cursed her family and led to her leaving home at fifteen.

'Spanning from young love to aging cynicism, Magpie is a coming-of-age story that will thrill and delight like lemonade ice-blocks and a swim on a hot day.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Working out of a small shack in the isolated wilds of south-western Tasmania, George, an environmental scientist, is trying to save the world one Tassie Devil at a time. Since she was a small girl she has dreamt of halting the advance of climate change, but saving a species in the middle of nowhere will have to do, for now…'

Source: La Boite.

'When a woman finds scars left by her ex-boyfriend of many years etched into her bones, she begins a turbulent journey to unpack her past and discover how he got under her skin. Based on the true story of two teenagers' romance as it blossoms then warps in the heat of bustling Singapore, Blue Bones is a one-woman show told with incredible honesty by Merlynn Tong. With multiple characters, song and arcade dance games, Blue Bones is a whirlwind of love and sex, violence and courage, with the wreckage continuing to be felt across the years. Against the backdrop of Singapore with all its beauty, rigidity and insistent chaos, Blue Bones will enchant and disturb, and perhaps even wake the stories dormant in your bones.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.