Olivier Award-Winning Play Returns To Sydney CHIMERICA By Lucy Kirkwood

OlivIer Award-winning play Chimerica by Lucy Kirkwood returns to Sydney, 15 August - 10 September 2022 at New Theatre.


"A man goes out to buy a paper, or a new shirt or something,
and by the end of the day, he's part of history."

Inspired by one of the 20th century's most powerful and iconic images, this political thriller tracks two decades of China-America relations through the parallel and intersecting stories of a photojournalist and a dissident.

In 1989, as tanks rolled through Tiananmen Square, a lone man, holding plastic shopping bags, stood in their path, and entered history.

Who was he, what was the story behind his protest, and what became of him?

Acclaimed English playwright Lucy Kirkwood takes these questions as her starting point to engage in a sweeping saga across countries and cultures that encompasses geopolitical intrigue, whip-smart comedy, and intimate human drama.

Still searingly relevant today, this is political theatre at its brilliant best.

New Theatre is thrilled to be bringing this acclaimed contemporary saga back to Sydney following on from its original production at the STC in 2017.

Our Artistic Director, Louise Fischer, is taking on the enormous challenge of bringing this modern example of epic theatre to our stage.

"It's a huge story. And I like telling big beautiful moving stories" says Louise. "This one has a deceptively humorous tone but when I dug deep, as the characters do, the play unfolded and I was left breathless in the last pages as the plot twisted and the reality of the legacy of Tiananmen and the magnitude of the devastating personal cost is revealed."

"If I had to describe this play in three words, it'd be: captivating, provoking, moving. And really, can you ask for anything more from live theatre?"

This has been a challenging play for New Theatre to cast, given the number of Chinese characters involved, most of whom are required to speak Mandarin, but we were encouraged by the response to our audition call-out and the high standard of actors who put their hands up to be involved, and we are thrilled to welcome Chloe Ho, Jon-Claire Lee, Enoch Li, Liz Lin and Matt Yuen all making their New Theatre debuts.

They join Oliver Wenn (Glengarry Glen Ross), Les Asmussen (The Ritz), Alice Livingstone (August: Osage County), Ciaran O'Riordan (The Merry Wives of Windsor), Michael Booker, Sam Walter and Jasmin Certoma.

Preview Mon 15 August 7:30pm
Opening Night Tue 16 August 7:30pm
Thu - Sat 7:30pm, Sun 5pm
Final performance Sat 10 September 2pm
(please note: no performance on Wed 17 August)

Full $35
Concessions, Groups (6+) $30
Thrifty Thursdays $22
Preview $20
https://aunewtheatre.sales.ticketsearch.com/sales/salesevent/53904
https://newtheatre.org.au/chimerica/

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