Story behind Manchester restaurant Sweet Mandarin on stage at Theatre Royal later this month

The Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds is proud to be a part of the Black Theatre Live consortium, who in co-production with Yellow Earth Theatre and Royal Exchange Manchester have announced that they will tour a new play Mountains – The Dreams of Lily Kwok.

Telling the extraordinary story of three generations of women behind the famous Manchester restaurant Sweet Mandarin, based on Helen Tse’s family memoir, the show will also include live cooking on stage and takes place on Tuesday and Wednesday, April 24 and 25.

Helen has grown up in the UK, but always felt a piece of her story was missing. When she visits her mother’s birthplace in Hong Kong for the first time, she’s determined to find out who she really is and where she belongs. Amidst the skyscrapers and bustling streets, she meets her grandmother, Lily Kwok, and steps into her past, discovering shocking family secrets that will change her life forever.

Writer In-Sook Chappell was born in South Korea and raised in England. Her first play This Isn’t Romance won the Verity Bargate Award and was produced at the Soho Theatre, broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and most recently presented in Korean at the National Theatre of Korea.

Director Jennifer Tang has worked in theatre and opera across the UK and internationally, including the Scandinavian premieres of two Nick Payne plays. She recently directed We Are You (Young Vic, British Museum) and Clytemnestra at the Gate Theatre as part of the Iphigenia Quartet.

Mountains – The Dreams of Lily Kwok is the first major mid-scale tour of a British East Asian play. It is the seventh Black Theatre Live show following most recently the autumn tour of Big Foot. This new show will tour the consortium’s eight venues across England, which have come together to commission and showcase excellent theatre from BAME companies.

Tickets are on sale at the Box Office, call 01284 769505, book online at www.theatreroyal.org/shows/mountains-the-dreams-of-lily-kwok/ or visit the theatre in person.

A scene from Mountains – The Dreams of Lily Kwok. Photo: JONATHAN KEENAN