Mei Mac set to star in ”untitled f*ck m*ss s**gon play”

The Royal Exchange Theatre, Factory International on behalf of Manchester International Festival, Young Vic Theatre and Headlong have announced the full cast for Kimber Lee’s upcoming untitled f*ck m*ss s**gon play.

Directed by Royal Exchange joint-artistic director Roy Alexander Weise, the play is set to receive its world premiere at the Royal Exchange Theatre as part of MIF23 (24 June to 22 July 2023), before transferring to the Young Vic Theatre in London (18 September to 4 November 2023). The play is the winner of the inaugural Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting 2019, International Award.

The full cast includes WhatsOnStage Award and Olivier Award nominee Mei Mac (My Neighbour Totoro) as Kim, Lourdes Faberes (Boiling Point) as Rosie / Cio-Cio, Jennifer Kirby (Call the Midwife) as Evelyn / Richards, Tom Weston-Jones (Sanditon) as Clark, Rochelle Rose (Rockets and Blue Lights) as the Narrator / Brenda and Jeff D’Sangalang (The Ocean At The End Of The Lane) as Afi/Goro.

untitled f*ck m*ss s**gon play follows the story of Kim, played by Mac, who attempts to smash through a hundred years of bloody narratives that all end the same way. The play jumps through time, exploring the conversations that East and South East Asian women in the diaspora have had with each other and with the world.

Mac expressed her excitement for bringing Kimber Lee’s play to life, saying: “I’m thrilled to be bringing Kimber Lee’s play to life. It’s a bold and delicious opportunity to reclaim the narrative of East and South East Asian women in the diaspora, from years of dehumanisation and denied agency. It’s empowering to explore the conversations I’ve had with my sisters and in my communities with a wider audience in such a fun, spicy, theatrical way. A genre, timeline defying way. Because that’s what’s so exciting about this play; its refusal to be reduced by the patriarchy and its determination to take full autonomy.”

Lee added: “I cannot wait to get in the rehearsal room with this wonderful cast! A play craves embodiment, and I’m looking forward to getting to know these incredibly gifted actors, and seeing how each person brings their humor, intelligence and passion to the process.”

untitled fck mss s**gon play is designed by Khadija Raza with costume design by Loren Elstein, lighting design by Josh Pharo, composition by Ruth Chan, sound design by Giles Thomas, movement by Shelley Maxwell, fight and intimacy direction by Haruka Kuroda, Jerwood Assistant Director is Caroline Yu, and casting by Helena Palmer CDG.

Tickets for the play are on sale now.