THE POISON OF POLYGAMY

About the show

Love, betrayal, and an epic gold rush adventure Set sail with this cross-continental odyssey that sprawls across Qing Dynasty China, to Victoria’s nineteenth century goldfields, and the urban sprawl of Melbourne’s Chinatown. One of Australia’s most exciting, versatile, and provocative playwrights, Anchuli Felicia King, returns to STC to adapt this historical story of colonisation, migration, morality, and desire – in a production that makes thrilling use of Wharf 1 Theatre’s ‘in the round’ formation. Originally published in 1910, The Poison of Polygamy was Australia’s first ever novel by a Chinese Australian author, Wong Shee Ping. It tells the story of Sleep-sick (Shan-Ree Tan) – an opportunistic young man from Guangdong who has his sights set on amassing a fortune in Australia’s goldfields. He leaves behind his faithful but long-suffering wife Ma (Merlynn Tong) and sets out across the sea to try his luck. Along the way, he charms and cheats an eccentric cast of characters until he meets his match: the seductive and cunning Tsiu Hei (Kimie Tsukakoshi). Will Sleep-sick keep his promise to Ma? Or will the temptations of wealth, beautiful women and opium prove too much to bear? Take a look into a slice of Australian history that is rarely seen on stage and discover a tale that reaches across the ages to illuminate the experiences of contemporary Chinese Australians. Also featuring Ray Chong Nee, Hsin-Ju Ely, Anna Yen, and Gareth Yuen, The Poison of Polygamy is a frontier story, a morality tale for the ages, a intergenerational ghost story, and a rollicking, horse-drawn escapade.