FLAKE to premiere at Red Stitch this week

Drawing us deep into the mess and chaos of old friendships, fragmented families and the inevitable blur of aging, Red Stitch presents the world premiere of Flake by Dan Lee on Wednesday 18 October 2023.

Flake is set in the vibrant nightlife of Hanoi, when a late-night motorcycle ride leads to an encounter in a cluttered kitchen where no one quite belongs.

Duyen is a young woman reluctantly returning to her roots. Murph is coming to see his old mate, Bob, whose shady past is slowly catching up with him.

The three of them have all been running – from commitment, from responsibility, and from home. But late one evening, in a tiny kitchen in Hanoi, each of them realise a night on the tiles is not what it used to be.

Meanwhile, the ancient city of Hanoi howls and crashes around outside, through the walls of the tiny basement kitchen.

Written by Dan Lee and co-created by Chi Nguyen, Flake is a new Australian play entirely developed and produced as part of Red Stitch Theatre’s INK writer’s program and the Company’s third new work for its 2023 season.

Directed by Red Stitch Artistic Director, Ella Caldwell, Flake features the award-winning Robert Menzies and Joe Petruzzi, alongside Phoebe Phuoc Nguyen in her Red Stitch debut.

Dan Lee’s third play, Flake has been developed by Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre INK writer’s program between 2016 to 2023. Prior to this, he wrote Grey Nomad, which was produced in LA by the Australian Theatre Company in 2017, and Bottomless, produced by 45 Downstairs in Melbourne in 2018.

Bottomless was the last play to receive the RE Ross Trust Playwrights’ Script Development Award and went through further development at Melbourne Theatre Company for a Cybec staged reading. Dan has worked on several new play ideas with the help of the Besen Family Foundation at the Malthouse Theatre.