Last Updated on 23 August 2021 by Showcall Editorial Team
The Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond in London is to stage the UK premiere of Michele Lee’s play, Rice
The cast has been announced for the UK premiere of Michele Lee’s play, Rice, at London’s Orange Tree Theatre.
Running at the theatre in Richmond from 9 October to 13 November 2021, it will feature Zainab Hasan as Nisha and Sarah Lam as Yvette.
It is a co-production with Actors Touring Company (ATC), whose artistic director, Matthew Xia, will direct the production.
With opening night on 13 October, the run will also include two live-streamed performances via OT On Screen on 4 and 5 November. Socially distanced seating and other Covid safety measures will also continue inside the theatre.
Rice will also be touring across the UK from February to April 2022, produced by ATC and the Orange Tree Theatre in association with Theatre Royal Plymouth. Further details are still to be announced.
Rice tells the story of Nis, a young hotshot executive working for Australia’s largest producer of rice. Ambitious and headstrong, she’s determined to become the first female Indian CEO in Australia. She’s close to sealing a contract with the Indian government, which would see her company take over India’s national rice distribution system.
Working late nights in the office she encounters Yvette, an older Chinese migrant, who cleans up her mess. Yvette has her own entrepreneurial ambitions, but her daughter faces court after participating in a protest against the unethical practices of a national supermarket chain.
The two form a powerful – if unlikely – bond as they navigate the complexities of their lives and the world at large.
Michele Lee is an Asian-Australian writer working across television, film, stage, books, audio and live art. She has won numerous awards for Rice including the Australian Writers’ Guild Award for best original stage play.
Completing the creative team are designer Hyemi Shin, lighting designer Bethany Gupwell, sound designer Lex Kosanke, movement director Asha Jennings-Grant and casting director Sophie Parrott.
