Concrete Playground

As the granddaughter of Italian immigrants, most of my 'Australian childhood' involved working too hard for everything, Mediterranean barbecues (those are aubergines), good ol' D.I.Y wine making and vege growing. I really wasn’t aware of the any other kind of Australian childhood and it wasn't until I experienced the humour, warmth and candour of William Yang's performances that I learnt about the experience of the Asian immigrants who also grew up in Oz. It was a really big eye opener for me.

So successful has Yang been at enlightening audiences with his storytelling, that in 2010 Performance 4A asked him to direct, teach and guide a group of Asian Australians in how to tell their stories in front of an audience. Stories East & West is the result of these teachings and Australians from China, Vietnam, Malaysia and India share their tales, along with photographs from their personal collections. You can catch those stories as part of COOLie: Asian Australian Performance Event, along with About Face — a new variety show commissioned by Performance 4a to showcase the tales of our — not other, far-away — land.