Pearl
   Theatre
      Company

CURRENT PRODUCTION: SHIBA LANE

    The world premiere of Shiba Lane will be performed at the Broome Civic Centre on the 9th September 2005, through to the 10th October 2005. A national tour is planned for 2006. A season of performances in Broome is scheduled July-September 2006.
     Written by Broome playwright RJ Roberts, Shiba Lane is set in Broome, Western Australia, during the early 1900's, when Broome was known world-wide as the pearling centre of the world. It is the story of two Japanese men who come to Australia and work in Broome's pearling industry. Though they have been life-long friends, life in the new land threatens to fracture their relationship. One chooses to adopt a British influenced life style and manner, endeavouring to adapt to his new home. The other wants to maintain the customs he has always known, and celebrate his culture in this new country.
      The conflict between them is heightened by the history of the time. The Japanese nation is emerging on the world stage after centuries of isolation, whereas the young nation of Australia is shaping its identity while grappling with its isolation from the rest of the world. Broome grapples with its isolation, closer to Asia than Australia's capital cities.
      Shiba Lane captures the unique multi-cultural heritage and history of Broome, in particular the Australian and Japanese involvement in the development of Broome's pearling industry. The name, Shiba Lane, refers to a location in Broome that was once the centre of the Japanese residential and business community. In contemporary times Shiba Lane is deemed to be a site of significant culture and history, possessing a mythical quality.
      The themes explored in Shiba Lane are relevant to our local, national, and inter-national community today, as we embrace multi-culturalism, encounter issues of national identity, immigration and the global problem of political and economic refugees.