Plumage! Puns! Political incorrectness gone mad! Griffin Theatre Company is proud to present: Blaque Showgirls!
A lonely kid in rural Australia, fair-skinned Sarah Jane Jones is deathly sure of two things: 1. She's the best dancer in the whole town of Chithole, and 2. She's a proud Aboriginal woman. There's very little proof of either of these things.
So, when a long-lost photograph offers hope of her Indigenous ancestry, Sarah Jane high-tails it to the glitziest casino in Brisvegas. Her mission? To land a role in the First Nations burlesque spectacular: 'Blaque Showgirls'... by any means necessary.
Blaque Showgirls is Nakkiah Lui's sparkly, smart-arsed spoof of the so-bad-it's-good cinematic masterpiece Showgirls. The luminous Stephanie Somerville (Chalkface) fan kicks her way to the front of the chorus line, going head-to-head with all-dancing, all-diamantéd drag icon Foxxy Empire! Co-directors Shari Sebbens (Superheroes, City of Gold) and Ursula Yovich (Diving for Pearls, Barbara and the Camp Dogs) jam-pack a long-awaited, pint-sized rhinestoned arena spectacular into the SBW Stables Theatre in 2023.
'Nakkiah Lui pivots improbably smoothly from outrageous hilarity to heartrending pain and injustice in a kind of one-two move that hits you in the gut.' —Limelight Magazine, for Nakkiah Lui and Blackie Blackie Brown
NAKKIAH LUI is a writer and Gamillaroi and Torres Strait Islander woman. She was an associate artist at Belvoir from 2012 to 2014 and was an artist-in-residence at Griffin Theatre Company in 2013. Her debut play, This Heaven, opened Belvoir’s 2013 Season in the Downstairs Theatre. Lui wrote My Dreaming, Our Awakening, the first radio play on ABC Radio National’s Awaye program. She wrote and directed From Drag King to Law Queen and BabyGirl, which have been shown at the Chauvel Cinema, on the ABC and the Colourise Festival. Lui’s previous works also include I Should Have Told You Before We Made Love (That I’m Black) (You Are Here Festival 2012), Stho Sthexy (MKA Melbourne 2013), Blackie Blackie Brown: The Traditional Owners of Death (Bondi Feast, Tamarama Rock Surfers 2013). Lui was dramaturg on the Sisters Grimm production The Sovereign Wife (MTC’s NEON Festival), which won Best Independent Production at the 2014 Green Room Awards. She has also been a writer and actor for Black Comedy (ABC 2014) and writer of Blak Cabaret (Sydney Festival/Malthouse Theatre 2015). In 2012 Lui was the first recipient of The Dreaming Award from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Board of the Australia Council. The same year Lui was also the inaugural recipient of The Balnaves Foundation Indigenous Playwright’s Award. In 2014 Lui was the recipient of the Malcolm Robertson Prize. Lui is also a young leader in the Australian Aboriginal community and has contributed to The Guardian, been a featured panellist at the 2014 Sydney Writers Festival, and has appeared on the ABC’s The Drum.
| Cast Info | 3F, 2M, 5+O, (doubling available) |
| Genres | Black Comedy, Comedy, Satire, Drama |
| Themes | Political/Social themes, Significant female roles, Diverse sexuality themes, First Nations |
| Audiences | Adult |
| Extent | 78 |
| Edition | CTS |
| Size | 137 x 210 mm |