WORLDS ALIVE 2025

We presented new voices from 9 countries, with plays never seen before in Australia.

Plays from Ukraine, Singapore, Japan, PNG, Indonesia, Iraq, South Africa, India, and Jamaica’s first Rastafarian play.

The Playwrights

Agnes Christina is a young Chinese Indonesian performance artist and writer who also works in film, textiles and painting. In 2024 her script compilation Forbearance won the Indonesian Literature Award for a Theatre Play. Her work often deals with her experiences as a Chinese Indonesian woman.

Faith Ng is a playwright and Associate Artistic Director of Checkpoint Theatre. Her plays include The Fourth Trimester (2022), which won Best Original Script and Production of the Year at the Straits Times Life Theatre Awards 2023, A Good Death (part of Esplanade’s The Studios 2018), Normal (2017, 2015), For Better or For Worse (2013) and wo(men)(2010). A Young Artist Award (2018) recipient, her collection of plays, Faith Ng: Plays Volume 1, was published by Checkpoint Theatre (2016).

Kōbō Abe was a Japanese writer, playwright, musician, photographer, and inventor. He is best known for his 1962 novel The Woman in the Dunes that was made into an award-winning film.

Hassan Abdulrazzak is an Iraqi playwright and writer. He was born in Prague. He has a PhD in molecular biology from University College London. His plays have been produced in the UK, India, Australia (Belvoir Theatre) and elsewhere.

Vitaliy Chenskiy is a playwright, screenwriter, novelist. Born in Mariupol, educated at Azov Technical University. He worked at the Azovstal metallurgical plant for seven years. In 2005 he moved to Kyiv, worked as a journalist, and began writing prose and plays that were published in such journals as Union of Writers. Photo by Dmitro Chichera.

Pieter-Dirk Uys is the Barry Humphries of South Africa. He dresses in wild costumes and takes the micky out of every political and social issue. His website has many monologues that he allows people to use anyway they wish, for no cost. We’ve chosen Nelson’s Warden. Here he is with Nelson Mandela, a fan.

Anuvab Pal is an Indian playwright and screenwriter. He was based in the United States for twelve years where he wrote Chaos Theory. Playbill named him “the leading South Asian playwright in the U.S.A”.

South African Ismail Mahomed is a multi-award winning arts administrator and playwright. He has served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Market Theatre Foundation, Artistic Director of the National Arts Festival and as Senior Cultural Specialist of the US Embassy (South Africa). Working collaboratively with the Centre’s team and University leadership he provides strategic and visionary leadership for the Centre for Creative Arts and oversees its governance, management and administration.

Nora Vagi Brash, CMG OBE , was a playwright and author. She wrote plays for stage and radio in a combination of English, Tok Pisin, and Hiri Motu, satirically dealing with conflicts between urban and rural people during the modernization of the country. Her Which Way, Big Man? was first performed in 1976 by the National Theatre Company.

Kateryna Penkova, from Donetsk, is a playwright, actor, circus creator and puppeteer. Her award-winning plays have been produced widely in Europe.

Stafford was one of the Jamaican Rastafarians who in the 1970s promoted popular Caribbean village-based theatre. His plays rejected Western dramatic genres and naturalistic illusionism. He stressed the value of improvisation in theatre as a tool for cultural survival. Stafford promoted vegetarianism and the rejection of consumerism.

The Plays

Papua New Guinea: Nora Brash, OBE, was a highly skilled writer. We secured the permission from the playwright’s family to include Which Way, Big Man? This comedy is about the transition to independence and makes fun of PNG’s new bureaucrats.

Jamaica: In Stafford Ashani’s Masqueraders villagers present a play-within-a-play and discover the power of their imaginations as the music plays and the people chant. Masqueraders was the first play to be written, directed and produced by a Rastafarian in a formal theatre, in Jamaica.

South Africa: By Pieter-Dirk Uys, South Africa’s Barry Humphries, Nelson’s Warden is comic monologue where Nelson Mandela’s friendly prison guard is amused by the busloads of tourists coming to see Mandela’s prison cell. Nelson Mandela was a fan of Pieter-Dirk Uys.

India: Anuvab Pal’s Chaos Theory is short comedy about an Indian Professor of English literature arguing with an Indian Professor of Indian literature. It’s Shakespeare vs Rabindranath Tagore. Pal’s play got seriously good reviews in the US and India.

South Africa: Ismail Mohamed’s Cheaper than Roses is a heartfelt monologue spoken by a young woman who ‘passes’ as White, and for good reason. This short poignant play is heart-felt realism.

Indonesia: Agnes Christina’s Mango Citizenship is a hard-hitting satirical fable where one type of mango vies for recognition as a true mango. It’s definitely comedy-with-bite.

Ukraine: Temporarily Displaced Person is Kateryna Penkova’s short play describing the difficult task of finding accommodation for people who have lost their homes in the current war. This play is only a few minutes long but powerfully demonstrates the resilience of the Ukrainians.

Japan: Kobo Abe’s Suitcase, is a short surrealist play about the powers of ancestors. Kobo is best known for his iconic film Woman in the Dunes.

Singapore: Faith Ng’s Whale Fall is delightfully quirky. Two students attempt to develop a play without a script. Faith’s rich characterisations give a sensitive portrayal of Singapore life.

Iraq: Hassan Abdulrazzak’s Apples tells of a tale of a young man in an Apple store wishing he could afford a phone. It would spoil the plot to say more! Hassan’s plays have received rave reviews in both New York and London.

The Performers

CHARLES MAYER

Co-founder of touring Shakespeare theatre company Come you Spirts, Charles plays -Antony in Antony & Cleopatra, Friar Lawrence in Romeo & Juliet and Macbeth in Macbeth, Prospero in The Tempest, Oberon/Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Charles Mayer is an English actor living and working in Australia since 2012. After 11 years as a British Army officer, Charles got a degree in acting from Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London and has since worked on stage in the West End, Shanghai, Adelaide (State Theatre South Australia), Auckland and Sydney. Most recent work is feature film FiveKRadius and The Wind in The Willows with The Australian Shakespeare Company.

JO BLOOM

Co-founder of touring Shakespeare theatre company Come you Spirts, Jo plays – Cleopatra in Antony & Cleopatra, Nurse in Romeo & Juliet and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Caliban in The Tempest, Titania/Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Jo has worked as an actress, director, producer, educator and playwright in Sydney, Melbourne and London. Her passion for classical theatre has seen her perform principal roles in over 20 productions, including to critical acclaim as Hedda in Hedda Gabler and Rosalind in As You Like It. She joined the Australian Shakespeare Company in 2009 performing in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Comedy of Errors and Macbeth. She has performed and toured in leading roles playing at the Minnak Theatre UK, the Edinburgh Festival, the Swan Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon, and has also worked with the British Shakespeare Company on their national tour. Jo wrote, produced and toured the live children’s show Alphabet Avenue across Victoria and Sydney, which developed into the TV series The McKenzie Sunshine Show currently shooting with AI Films Studio for international release in 2025.

MICHAEL DE HUY leads an eclectic and multi-faceted career, weaving together his skills as pianist, improviser, arranger and composer. Possessing virtuosic command over a wide coverage of musical styles and mediums, Michael is in high demand as a performer and collaborator. Recently he performed as soloist with the Sydney Conservatorium of Music Symphony Orchestra and embarked on a Japan/Korea tour with the SCM Wind Symphony.

Guest artist TIANG LIM was a teacher, nurse and manager in Sydney. She then turned to theatre where she succeeds in both comedy and drama:

Theatre: BOOM, RADAR Wrote and performed DANDELION - When do you stop being a migrant?, a sell-out show at the 2024 Sydney Fringe Festival. Cabaret Not Dead Yet, Sydney Uni and UTS Masters students’ productions … Comedy - stand up comedy at the Chippo. Tiktok series Coach Dayum. Grouse House Pedo San. Coconutface comedy Who Invented Mousakka? Australian Republic Campaign and Tourism Australia films.

We are delighted that Tiang can join us to perform in the Indonesian play Mango Citizenship.

Guest artist LEONIE RAGI is a primary teacher by profession back in PNG. She has recently moved to Sydney with her family. She has a great sense of humour and would love to try and explore beyond the walls of classrooms in taking up this role.

We are delighted that Leonie can join the cast as a guest artist to perform in two short Papua New Guinea plays Which Way, Big Man? and The Amazing Adventures of Omai.

Quotes from reviewers and the audience ….

The performances were well received by an enthusiastic audience. Sydney Arts Guide

Great acting and a good range of plays! Maggy Franklin, Theatre Time Sydney

The plays were performed with commitment and vibrancy. Sydney Arts Guide

The actors were all fantastic. I loved the variety. I loved all the plays. WORLDS ALIVE wonderfully invited us to think globally and act locally through the power of storytelling. Brett Martin, VP, United Nations Association of Australia (NSW)

The performers were brilliant. Margaret Gray

I loved all the plays and having a child actor added to the rich diversity. Dorothy Guterres