Black Is the New White — Sydney Theatre Company

Overview

Nakkiah Lui's comedy Black Is the New White was nothing short of a smash hit when the Sydney Theatre Company debuted it last year — and now it's returning to Walsh Bay for a second Sydney run. Charlotte Gibson is a lawyer and going places, fast. Her parents are stoked, but they don't know that Charlotte's also procured herself a fiancée. He's white and unemployed, a composer. His upper-middle class parents are at the stuffier end of conservative and they're headed over for Christmas dinner.

But Lui says the idea came from somewhere else entirely. "I just wanted to write something for Aboriginal actors that didn't have death in it. I wanted to write something that didn't come from a place of sorrow…This was actually something that had hope, that had happiness in it."

Director Paige Rattray has the helm for this one with a cast that includes Shari Sebbens, Luke Carroll and Geoff Morrell. Christmas may be ten months away, but there's enough cheer in Lui's work to make you forget all about that.

After a short season at Roslyn Packer Theatre, the show will then travel to Parramatta's Riverside Theatre for four shows between March 21 and 24.

Image: Rene Vaile.