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Shanghai Lady Killer single work   drama  
Issue Details: First known date: 2010... 2010 Shanghai Lady Killer
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'Imagine the characters from a classic film noir - flawed private eye, femme fatale and underground crime lord - meet the superhuman heroines of a Hong Kong Wuxia sword-fighting spectacular. Set the action in the Chinatown of a futuristic Australian city and bring in multi-media landscapes, acrobatics, parkour, trampoline, dance, circus and martial arts, and you might have something close to the on-stage spectacle of Stalker's "Shanghai Lady Killer".

The plot follows an Australian detective, hired to track down a mysterious female Chinese assassin. Her mission is to kill the Mayor, a successful and popular migrant from Shanghai who is in the midst of his re-election campaign. A dark secret looms over the action, threatening to tear the city apart. Popularised by the Shaw Brothers studios in the 1960s and revisited in Kill Bill and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon - the Wuxia genre is the main inspiration for this contemporary Australian stage production. Through its fast-paced plot, powerful female characters and aerial and ground-based physical theatre, "Shanghai Lady Killer" also explores the Australian fascination with and fear of China. Source: www.brisbanefestival.com.au/ (Sighted 17/08/2010).

Production Details

  • World premiere as part of the 2010 Brisbane Festival by Stalker Theatre Company at the Playhouse, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, 23-25 September 2010. Director: Rachael Swain.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

Works about this Work

Drama Made for Martial Arts Skills James Harper , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 27 September 2010; (p. 33)

— Review of Shanghai Lady Killer Tony Ayres , 2010 single work drama
Drama Made for Martial Arts Skills James Harper , 2010 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 27 September 2010; (p. 33)

— Review of Shanghai Lady Killer Tony Ayres , 2010 single work drama
Last amended 17 Aug 2010 16:44:46
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