Directed by Ian Lawson and inspired by playwright Therese Collie’s own family history, White China is a journey through the past that uses the Brisbane flood of 1974 as a vehicle to explore Brisbane history, matrilineal shame, and intergenerational understanding.

White China. Photo © Stephen Henry

In the midst of a flood, Jaz (Tegan Braithwaite) and her mother Daisy (Elise Greig) take their tinnie Grace Darling out on the swollen rivers and creeks to search for grandmother Lily, who has gone missing from her nursing home.

Meanwhile, Lily (Tracey Tainsh, aka Isheeni) is traversing Brisbane with the hungry ghosts of her half-sisters, exuberant Joy (Emily Liu) and cynical, antagonistic Ava (Deborah Faye Lee), to find their mother’s spirit and honour her before Ancestors’ Day.

Both journeys traverse Brisbane’s suburbs and waterways, while submerged secrets rise to the surface and the five women seek to understand the choices of their mothers, sisters, and daughters.

Lily and Joy reminisce about their shared past, both good and bad, and Ava begrudgingly accompanies them in the search for their mother, Mary Wong. Lily has denied her Chinese heritage all her life, fearing...