Dunstan Playhouse to Dec 1.
Nakkiah Lui made a name for herself with Black Comedy, and there has been a real buzz around the arrival to Adelaide of her play Black is the new White, Winner of the Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting. Having sold out seasons all over the place, Adelaide has scored the production through to Dec 1 – perfect timing for this Christmas-set story.
Miranda Tapsell stars as Charlotte, with Tom Stokes as her fiancé, Francis, in an unconventional world where Charlotte’s Aboriginal family are wealthy, but her white fiancé is not. Charlotte’s father Ray Gibson gained fame as an Aboriginal activist and politician and has done very well for himself out of it, and fully expects star lawyer Charlotte to continue the family dynasty in the public eye and become the ‘female black Waleed Aly’ – but Charlotte is not so sure. She’s more preoccupied with how to introduce Francis to her family when he’s an unemployed experimental classical cellist with perpetual foot/ankle/knee in mouth disease, and as a bonus his father is an old political sparring partner of Ray’s, with opposing viewpoints on pretty much everything. Picture the worst-case scenario of any time your family has met the family of your partner for the first time and then times that by 100 and you have an idea of the wincing you’ll doing in your chair as you laugh with horror at the agony of Francis and Charlotte.
Exploring modern relationship dilemmas, interracial conflict, political correctness, wealth, and what it means to be black with deft writing and humour that hurts, Black is the New White is worth every word of the rave reviews that it has collected thus far. Don’t miss its Adelaide season – it was a sell out the night we attended, so get your tickets now.
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