'Kill the Messenger is a funny and shocking tell-all from a true maverick.
'In 2011 Gamilaroi/Torres Strait Islander playwright/law student/performer Nakkiah Lui started writing a play for Belvoir. It was based on a true story about a man in her home suburb of Mount Druitt. One day, in unbearable pain due to undiagnosed stomach cancer, he went to the local hospital, where he was refused care. Then he went to a nearby park and hung himself. The theme of the play: institutionalised racism.
'Then in 2012 Nalddah's grandmother fell through the unmended floor of her public housing home and died. Nakkiah found herself at the centre of a story about ... institutionalised racism. The resulting play lays it all out - her dodgy sex life, a dead man's second chance, and a granddaughter's sense of duty.
'Cunningly composed rage is one of theatre's great modes. Kill the Messenger is an exemplary case in point. Anthea Williams (Forget Me Not) directs the incomparable Nakkiah Lui as herself in this game-changing rethink of what black theatre could be.'
Source: Belvoir.
First produced Upstairs by Belvoir, Surry Hills, 14 February to 8 March 2015.
Director: Anthea Williams.
Set Designer: Ralph Myers.
Cast: Nakkiah Lui.
Supported by the Balnaves Foundation.
