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.