AustLit

'It’s the story of historical Louisiana. Or historical Far North Queensland. Or it’s the story of a black playwright. Or how race is portrayed on stage. Or maybe it’s about how they’re all the same story.

'Brash and provocative, this satirical comedy traces its roots back to an 1859 stage melodrama by crowd-pleasing Irish impresario Dion Boucicault. When the story of a man who scandalously falls for a slave on his Louisiana plantation premiered in New York, it helped fan the flames of the American Civil War.

'Today – with race still as incendiary a global issue as it was then – the dazzling and radical African-American playwright has torn apart and rebuilt the original text as a towering, immersive and wildly funny theatrical experience like no other.

'In a version subtly recontextualised to uncover and skewer Australia’s shameful history of slavery, leading Aboriginal artist and commentator Nakkiah Lui (Black Comedy, Black is the New White) makes her directorial debut in an Australian exclusive.' (Production summary)