The Red Dust《红尘》

A huge Chinese Community Arts project combining dance, poetry and music

Celebrating Ancestry, family and young people’s aspirations for the future

Sydney in the near future.

The climate has reached a tipping point, and a red dust storm, blown in from the central desert, covers the city.

Fourteen-year-old Talia spends her afternoons daydreaming on social media while she waits for her climate scientist mother to return from the Blue Mountains. Days pass, and still her mother doesn’t return. As Talia travels across the devastated landscape to find her, she begins to realise that seeing through hóng chén — the red dust of living — might be more important to saving the earth than she ever dreamed.

‘The Red Dust’ is an intercultural and intergenerational show for all ages. A lyrical, music and theatre performance written by Nicole W. Lee with music by  MSTYP Artistic Director, Nate Gilkes and Dr Nicholas Ng, and choreography by Jia-wei Zhu, ‘The Red Dust’ premiered at the Ku-ring-gai Town Hall in July 2022. 

Performed and subtitled in English and Mandarin.

Presented with assistance from the Ku-ring-gai Council, The Institute for Australian and Chinese Arts and Culture (IAC) at Western Sydney University, the Chinese Australian Services Society (CASS), SBW Foundation, NBS Home loans and Wahroonga Rotary.

不远的将来的悉尼。气候已经到达临界点，红色沙尘暴从中部沙漠地区吹来，席卷整个城市。

某天下午，14岁的塔利亚一边等候着她那气候科学家的妈妈从蓝山回家，一边沉浸于奇思妙想之中。很多天过去了，妈妈却没有回来。塔利亚穿越这饱经摧残之地去寻找妈妈，在这段旅程中，她开始意识到看透红尘——人世间的红尘，也许比她梦寐以求的拯救地球更重要。

《红尘》是一部适合各年龄段观众的跨文化和跨辈分的剧作。一部抒情诗般的音乐话剧作品。本剧由李婉婷Nicole W. Lee原创，玛丽安街青年剧团（MSTYP）的艺术导演Nate Gilkes导演, 朱家玮Jia-Wei Zhu编舞。

本剧用中文和英文演出，并配有字幕。适合8岁以上人群观看。

澳大利亚–中国艺术与文化研究院（ACIAC）和华人服务社（CASS）协助演出。