THIS HEAVEN Reading Set for 'Vibrant - A Festival of Finborough Playwrights'

In a new production commissioned by the Finborough Theatre and originally seen as a staged reading as part of Vibrant - A Festival of Finborough Playwrights, the European premiere of This Heaven by Nakkiah Lui runs at the Finborough Theatre, playing Sunday and Monday evenings and Tuesday matinees from Sunday, 30 August 2015 (Press Night: Monday, 31 August 2015 at 7.30pm).

Telling a universal story and evoking recent events in Ferguson, Baltimore, and the London riots of 2011, This Heaven is the story of an indigenous Australian family at breaking point.

Sissy Gordon's father, an Aboriginal man and pillar of the community, has died in custody at Mount Druitt Police Station, New South Wales. But the justice that Sissy and her family were certain was coming to them is suddenly snatched away. Sissy is about to qualify as a lawyer, but tonight, the law seems irrelevant to her. Tonight is dirty and heavy, and the moon is swollen and bright. Everyone knows that on nights like this things happen...

Burning with a wild rage, the streets and parks of Mount Druitt are transformed into a fierce public forum where anger explodes onto the street. What does justice look like? And what happens when you push someone so far they take the law into their own hands?

This Heaven received its world premiere in February 2013 at the Belvoir Street Theatre, Sydney. It was an instant hit, with a sellout production that was extended twice.

This is an extraordinary opportunity to share the story of one Aboriginal family's experience of a system that fails them through the stories and music of an ancient and beautiful culture.

Playwright Nakkiah Lui is a Gamillario and Torres Strait Islander woman. She is currently Playwright-in-Residence at Belvoir Theatre, Sydney. Nakkiah was previously Artist-in-Residence at Griffin Theatre Company. Her other writing work includes Kill the Messenger (Belvoir St Theatre), My Dreaming, Our Awakening (the first radio play on ABC Radio National programme Awaye), I Should Have Told You Before We Made Love (That I'm Black) (You Are Here Festival), Stho Sthexy (MKA Melbourne) and The Traditional Owners of Death (Bondi Feast for Rock Surfers Theatre Company). Nakkiah also wrote and directed From Drag King to Law Queen and BabyGirl (Chauvel Cinema, ABC and Colourise Festival). In 2012, Nakkiah was the first recipient of The Dreaming Award from The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Arts Board of the Australia Council and the inaugural recipient of the Balnaves Foundation Indigenous Playwright award. Nakkiah was also the recipient of the Malcolm Robertson Prize and recently received a Green Room Award for the Sisters Grimm production Sovereign Wife (Melbourne Theatre Company). In 2014, Nakkiah made her television debut in Black Comedy (ABC and Scarlett Pictures), a new comedy series she starred in and co-wrote. Nakkiah is also a young leader in the Australian Aboriginal community and has contributed to The Guardian, been a featured panellist during Sydney Writers Festival and has appeared on The Drum (ABC).

Director Laura McCluskey directed the staged reading of This Heaven as part of Vibrant 2014 - A Festival of Finborough Playwrights. She has directedThe Wing by Clara Brennan as part of Theatre Uncut, and assisted Ché Walker on Been So Long (The Young Vic) and Bijan Sheibani on Gone Too Far! (Royal Court Theatre). She is also a playwright and directed her own work Cake and Congo (Theatre503) and Nina and Shaz (Brockley Jack Theatre and London Tour). Previous Education Manager at the Royal Court Theatre, Laura also currently works as Education Manager at Clean Break, a theatre company that works with women affected by the criminal justice system, where she recently worked with playwright Stacey Gregg on an ensemble piece, and is currently working with Laura Lomas.

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