b'A NEW VOICE OF THE AUSTRALIAN STAGE MEET PLAYWRIGHT ANCHULI FELICIA KINGA little gem, wrote the veteran British critic Michael Billington of theSo one of the things that I often talk about in my plays is just how 2019 London premiere of Thai-Australian playwright Anchuli Feliciafraudulent that notion actually is, how diverse our cultural identities Kings biting satire White Pearl. actually are now and how fractured the notion of national identity is in a Billington was struck by the breadth of its concerns: Corporateworld embracing globalisation spurred on by technology. We are all so hypocrisy, the base values of the beauty business, the frenzy of socialconnected now that those boundaries are kind of breaking down.media and, not least, mutual suspicion between westernised andKing lives a globetrotting life. Shes based in New York, feted in the UK, homeland Asians. and has family in Australia. Her creative practice blends writing with a Its the kind of breadth that comes naturally to King, a writer whosedeep interest in digital technologies and music.diverse experience and global outlook informs her work. Brought up in a science-inclined family, King suspects she was always Riverside Theatres audiences will soon experience White Pearl in a newdestined for a career in the arts. I have an identical twin sister and wed National Theatre of Parramatta-Sydney Theatre Company co-productionwrite musicals together, she says. Wed split up the portfolio: my sister playing from October 24.was in charge of lighting, stage design and stage management, and I was in charge of sound design and performing. Wed often collaborate A boardroom drama with a dark comic edge, the play is set in theon projects like that. That, I think, more than anything, spurred on my Singapore office of Clearday, a cosmetics company in the grip of ancreativity as a kid.international media crisis. A video touting a skin-whitening product toDuring her undergrad years at Melbourne University, King composed, Chinese consumers has gone viral for all the wrong reasons. The socialplayed gigs and created sound designs for theatre productions. Thats media backlash is swift and brutal. Journalists are circling like sharks. when I realised I really loved pretty much every aspect of the theatre, Her first full-length play, White Pearl is a comedy with teeth, says King,she says.a play that puts the bite on issues of racism, intra-community prejudiceShe tried her hand at different facets of theatre craft, from video design and class. It was partly inspired by the rise of the skin-whiteningto costuming. But it wasnt until she took a compulsory class in business in Asian countries and an infamous Chinese TV commercial thatplaywriting, during her studies at Columbia University in New York in saw a black man put into a washing machine. 2016, that she discovered her passion for writing. I was totally hooked, Coming from a Thai-Australian background, King has a nuancedshe says.viewpoint on representations of different cultures on stage. At the sameKings love of collaboration has become a cornerstone of her creative time, she sets out to challenge the audiences expectations of her, as aidentity, which is reflected in the companies she has worked with, such playwright of colour, and their preconceptions about the subject matter. as the British immersive theatre pioneers Punchdrunk and 3-Legged Theres an assumption that I am only supposed to write about myDog Art & Technology Centre, a New York-based creative hub supporting experience of race, that Im supposed to encapsulate a certain culturaloriginal work using new technologies.identity or a certain cultural experience, King explains. 58'