Laurinda at Melbourne Theatre Company

An MTC NEXT STAGE Original

A new play by Diana Nguyen with Petra Kalive

Based on the novel by Alice Pung

Directed by Petra Kalive

Adapting Alice Pung’s award-winning book, writer and comedian Diana Nguyen and director Petra Kalive bring Laurinda’s schoolyard setting to the stage for a fresh and feisty new work. Like Heathers or Mean Girls with a uniquely Australian flavour, this delightful take on the beloved novel stars Fiona Choi (Torch the Place), Gemma Chua-Tran (Netflix's Heartbreak High), Georgina Naidu (Minnie & Liraz), Chi Nguyen (The Wilds), Ngoc Phan (Boy Swallows Universe), Roy Phung (Jasper Jones) and Jenny Zhou (Girl, Interpreted) in an incisive, funny study of a woman caught between cultures and class.

When 15-year-old Lucy Lam wins the inaugural Equal Access Scholarship to a prestigious private school, the smart and well-liked student is not prepared for the new world she’s suddenly propelled into. It’s a world of wealth and opportunity, overseen by The Cabinet – a trio of girls who wield power over their classmates, and even their teachers. But when The Cabinet turn their attention to Lucy she has to make a choice: fit in and succeed, or stay true to herself. Either way, there’s a cost.

Whether high school is (thankfully) a distant memory or a current reality, this MTC NEXT STAGE commission offers a witty and moving insight into an all-too common experience as well as the inner strength it takes to speak truth to power.

"Biting yet compassionate." - Australian Book Review Books of the Year (on Alice Pung’s original novel Laurinda)

"Exquisitely sharp." - The Age Books of the Year (on Alice Pung’s original novel Laurinda)

CAST: Fiona Choi, Gemma Chua-Tran, Georgina Naidu, Chi Nguyen, Ngoc Phan, Roy Phung, Jenny Zhou