BLACK IS THE NEW WHITE

About the show

WORLD PREMIERE Black is the New White is a laugh-out-loud, provocative new romantic comedy by fearless columnist and an award-winning playwright Nakkiah Lui. Charlotte Gibson (Shari Sebbens) is a lawyer on the up. She won a landmark Native Title case, she’s making her parents proud, she could have her own TV show tomorrow. As her father Ray (Tony Briggs) says, she could be the next feminist Indigenous Waleed Aly. But she has other ideas. First of all, it’s Christmas. Second of all, she’s in love. Charlotte's fiancé, Francis Smith (James Bell), is not what her family expected. He's an unemployed experimental classical composer… and he's white! Bringing him and his conservative parents to meet her family on their ancestral land is a bold move. Will he stand up to the scrutiny? Or will this romance descend into farce? Love is never just black and white. It’s complicated by class, politics, ambition, and too much wine over dinner. But for Charlotte and Francis, it's mostly complicated by family. Secrets are revealed, prejudices outed and old rivalries get sorted through. What can’t be solved through diplomacy can surely be solved by a good old-fashioned dance-off. They’re just that kind of family. This incisive comedy is newly commissioned by STC, and writer Nakkiah Lui shows why she is one of this country’s most in-demand young voices. A writer and star of Black Comedy on ABC, Lui delivers cutting satire that is both seductively subversive and thoroughly delightful. Paige Rattray (Boys will be boys) directs a wonderful ensemble, featuring James Bell (Children of the Sun), Kylie Bracknell (ABC’s Redfern Now) Tony Briggs (ABC’s Cleverman), Luke Carroll (The Hanging), Vanessa Downing (Power Plays), Geoff Morrell (Vere Faith), Melodie Reynolds-Diarra, Shari Sebbens (Battle of Waterloo) and Anthony Taufa (The Golden Age). With a toe-tapping soundtrack and an array of brilliant, eccentric, loveable characters, don’t miss the world premiere of this beguiling Australian story.