Child of History

by Robert Antoniades

6 December 2022

CHILD OF HISTORY was our featured online play for 2022, and the first to be presented in our new annual writing event The December Play.

Written by MWT playwright Robert Antoniades, CHILD OF HISTORY is a dramatic play with music in three acts that explores the struggles faced by refugees in finding a new home. It follows the journey of the Nguyen family, who endeavour to flee war-ravaged Saigon in 1975 for a better life in Australia. What sacrifices must they make, what hardships must they accept and which members of the Nguyen family will pay the highest price for freedom?

The story unfolds through the eyes of 12-year-old Diem Nguyen, whose youthful innocence is slowly eroded and replaced by a grim understanding of what the world can offer her as a young woman whose country has been forced to endure war ‘for more than a thousand years’.

Elizabeth Pham (‘Diem’) led a talented cast in this original new theatrical piece, directed by Mazz Ryan and featuring performances by:

Elizabeth Pham                 Diem Nguyen

Enoch Li Duc Nguyen

Emma Choy                       Mai Nguyen

Vicky Nguyen                    Hoa Nguyen

Gabrielle Ng                      Thuy Tran

Rayhan Maskun                Thanh & Bao

Sean Collins          Anh Dat

MJ Wilson                          Frank

Alec Gilbert                        Pete

John Bolger Father Loc

Rob Antoniades, playwright

Melbourne Writers’ Theatre presented Act 1 of this play online on Tuesday 6th December 2022.

To request a copy of the performance recording or the script, please contact melbournewriterstheatre@gmail.com

If you would like to read the song lyrics included in the complete three-Act production of
CHILD OF HISTORY with a view to recording these, you are also invited to request these by emailing
melbournewriterstheatre@gmail.com