Shangri-La

The world premiere of
SHANGRI-LA
by Amy Ng

Directed by Charlotte Westenra

“You like your minorities like your pandas – picturesque, cuddly, endangered, helpless. But I refuse to be a panda. I refuse to go extinct. I want to live, to live well, to live like them.”

Shangri-La is not a myth. Shangri-La is a place. The Himalayan foothills of China's Yunnan Province were officially renamed ‘Shangri-La’ in a successful bid for the tourist dollar.

Bunny, a young indigenous woman, has witnessed her family’s livelihood destroyed by mass tourism. She dreams of escape — as a globe-trotting photographer. Nelson, her liberal Chinese boss, dreams of a new kind of tourism that's sustainable and enables genuine cultural exchange. Their white Western clients yearn for escape, for the touch of something authentic. These desires collide head on in Shangri-La.

What happens when the only thing you have to sell is your culture? When the only way to free yourself is to betray your roots? Based on her personal experiences, new playwright Amy Ng lays bare the contradictions and private pain of cultural tourism. Shangri-La is Amy Ng’s first full length play. It was developed at the Tricycle Theatre and received a staged reading at Vibrant 2014 – A Festival of Finborough Playwrights.

It is directed by acclaimed director Charlotte Westenra.

Praise for Charlotte Westenra:

"Anyone who cares about British musicals must go!… Phenomenal." Mark Shenton on The Return of the Soldier.

“It is a play that – like its flawed, complex characters – has a fiercely beating, damaged heart… the dialogue is bought vividly to life by a fine cast in Charlotte Westenra’s nifty production, which...sings with intelligence.” ★★★★ Lyn Gardner, The Guardian on Sunset Baby.

“Huge credit to the director Charlotte Westenra… She absolutely knows what she's doing. She has a very sure touch. [Verbatim theatre] can go horribly wrong, but it went beautifully right." Arts Extra, BBC on Titanic (Scenes from the British Wreck Commissioner’s Inquiry 1912).

“Westenra, who brings her experience of stagings of the Saville and Hutton inquiries for London's Tricycle Theatre to bear, directs the cast with superb attention to nuance.” ★★★★ Helen Meany, The Guardian on Titanic (Scenes from the British Wreck Commissioner’s Inquiry 1912).