'We could stop here. We could stay here. It's not so bad, is it?'

Kim is having one of those days. A terrible, very bad, no-good kind of day, and the worst part is... it all feels so familiar. Caught up in a never-ending cycle of events, she looks for the exit but the harder she tries, the worse it gets and she begins to wonder: who's writing this story?

She makes a break for it, smashing through a hundred years of bloody narratives that all end the same way. Can she find a way out before it's too late?

With breathless hilarity, Kimber Lee's untitled f*ck m*ss s**gon play jumps through time, wriggling inside of and then exploding lifetimes of repeating Asian stereotypes, wrestling with history for the right to control your own narrative in a world that thinks it can tell you who you are.

Winner of the International Award for the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting in 2019, the play was co-produced in 2023 by the Royal Exchange, Factory International for Manchester International Festival, the Young Vic Theatre and Headlong, and directed by Roy Alexander Weise. It was first performed at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, as part of Manchester International Festival, before transferring to the Young Vic Theatre, London.

About the Author

Kimber Lee is a playwright based in New York City, whose other plays include saturday, the water palace (Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Special Commendation), to the yellow house, tokyo fish story and different words for the same thing.

Reviews

'Ferociously funny... dissects years of racist, imperialist and misogynistic tropes... Imagine if Caryl Churchill had written Noises Off... punky, polemical and stingingly fresh'

* Guardian *

'Provocative and very funny... a terrifically spiky send-up of Asian stereotypes'

* Telegraph *

'Non-stop funny... both hilarious and strangely moving'

* Reviews Hub *

'Urgent and clever... furious and funny... very clever writing'

* The Stage *

'Sharp, intelligent and confrontational... Switching seamlessly between laugh-out-loud humour and poignant, harrowing tragedy... despite its confrontational name, it's a remarkably accessible play'

* Manchester Evening News *

'An overdue corrective... accurate and needed... This show begins to alter what we see on stage'

* Observer *

'This punchy, acerbic and acutely observed piece of theatre kicks ass as it highlights the dangers of cultural appropriation and takes an unflinching look at intergenerational trauma... a wickedly funny satire... groundbreaking work that both entertains and informs... f**king great!'

* WhatsOnStage *



Book Information
ISBN 9781839042416
Author Kimber Lee
Format Paperback
Page Count 96
Imprint Nick Hern Books
Publisher Nick Hern Books
Weight(grams) 115g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 7mm