Format

Radio play

About

This is a play about a boy called Charlie, who watches a tiger coming for him. It is about a shaman, who’s cheerful but rusty. There is a gangster Hmong boy, Victor, from America. And Charlie’s uncle, Guy, tapes oral letters to his brother who is languishing in a refugee camp. This play is about Hmong people and some of the challenges of settling into Australia. From Laos, we fled the aftermath of the Secret War. In the early 1990s, there were about 130 Hmong families in Australia. Today, there are over 4000 Hmong in Australia.

Creative team

Writer Michele Lee

Director Maryanne Lynch

Dramaturg Noelle Janaczewska

Composition by Elissa Goodrich

With Aljin Abela, Ferdinand Hoang, Jon-Clair Lee, Gareth Yuen and Peter Bright, Matt Crosby, Fanny Hanusin, Hai Ha Le, Chris Pang

Previous developments for stage: director Gorkem Acaroglu, dramaturg Chi Vu and with performers Luke Fraser, Fanny Hanusin, Kha Tran, Mark Tregonning and Gary Yang

Production and development

2013: winner, Australian Writers’ Guild, Best Original Radio Play

2012: broadcast on Airplay, Radio National ABC Australia

2011: commissioned by Radio National

2010-11: first radio development, Ian Reed residency

2008: first stage development

Supporters

City of Melbourne, Multicultural Commission, Platform Youth Theatre